BV  4253  .M34  1867 
McClelland,  Alexander, 

1796?-1864. 
Sermons 


SERMONS, 


8E  KMO  ]Sr  S 


BT     THE    LAIS 


ALEXANDER    MCCLELLAND,  D.  D, 


KICHARD  W.  DICKIlJ^SOISr,  D.  D. 


NEW  rOKK: 
ROBERT  CARTER  AND  BROTHERS, 

No.  530  Bkoadway. 
186  7. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 

ROBERT  CARTER  AND  BROTHERS, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  for  the  Southern  District  of  New   York. 


(CamlirtUge  ^ress. 

DaKIX     AlTD     MXTCALV. 


PREFACE 


Alexander  McClelland  was  remarkable  in  his 
youth  for  his  great  facility  in  learning,  and  the  rapid  de- 
velopment of  his  mental  faculties.  Having  received  his 
collegiate  education  at  Union,  Schenectady,  he  commenced 
his  preparatory  studies  for  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  at 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  under  the  care  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Ander- 
son, D.  D.,  of  the  Associate  Presbyterian  Church  ;  but, 
owing  to  the  superior  advantages  which  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod  then  presented 
at  New  York,  he  availed  himself  of  the  earliest  opportunity 
of  attending  the  lectures  of  the  late  Dr.  John  M.  Mason. 
It  was  in  connection  with  that  seminary  he  completed  his 
course  ;  and  when  but  nineteen  years  of  age  he  was  licensed 
by  the  Associate  Reformed  Presbytery  to  preach  the  gospel. 
Shortly  after  this  —  in  1815  —  he  was  ordained  and  installed, 
and  became  the  successor  of  the  late  Dr.  Philip  Milledoller 
in  the  pastorate  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  then  situated 
in  Rutgers  street  in  the  city  of  New  York.  After  the 
lapse  of  seven  years  (during  which  period  he  sustained 
himself  in  the  duties  of  his  charge  with  distinguished  ability, 
and  growing  reputation  as  a  preacher),  he  was  elected  to 


VI  PREFACE. 

the  Professorship  "  of  Rhetoric,  Logic,  and  Metaphysics  " 
in  Dickinson  College,  at  Carlisle,  Pa.  Thither  he  moved 
with  his  family  in  1822  ;  and  there  remained,  applying 
himself  with  marked  assiduity  to  the  duties  of  his  profes- 
sorship, and  securing  increasing  influence  over  the  minds 
of  his  students,  until,  in  1829,  he  removed  to  New  Bruns- 
wick, New  Jersey,  where,  in  connection,  at  first  with  Rut- 
gers College  as  "  Professor  of  Languages,"  and  afterwards 
with  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  in  the  department  of  "  Oriental  Literature  and 
Biblical  Criticism,"  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  remain- 
ing days.  His  death  —  preceded  by  a  gradual  paralysis  of 
all  his  organs  —  occurred  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age, 
on  the  nineteenth  day  of  December,  1864.^ 

He  was  in  some  respects  better  fitted  for  the  profes- 
sor's chair  than  the  pastoral  office,  —  at  least  so  he  himself 
thought,  —  and,  on  this  account,  retained  his  professorship  at 
Carlisle,  though  repeatedly  invited  to  resume  a  charge,  and 
unanimously  called  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Philadelphia,  when  rendered  vacant  by  the  death  of  Dr. 
James  Wilson. 

Still,  Dr.  McClelland  continued  to  preach  at  intervals, — 
though  oftener  than  otherwise  in  some  retired  place,  and 
where  he  was  not  expected.  Being  averse  to  having  him- 
self announced,  he  was  seldom  forward  to  make  a  timely 
engagement. 

1  On  the  sixth  of  August,  1816,  he  was  married  to  the  eldest 
daughter  of  the  late  Charles  Dickinson,  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
who  still  survives  him,  with  six  of  their  children,  —  two  sons  and 
four  daughters. 


PREFACE.  VII 

He  was  reluctant,  moreover,  to  publish  any  particular 
sermon  or  lecture ;  not  so  much  through  fear  of  criticism 
(though  he  was  nervously  sensitive  to  the  least  flaw  that 
might  be  detected),  as  from  the  consciousness  of  not  having 
satisfied  his  own  mind,  —  so  high  was  his  standard  of  excel- 
lence in  the  lecture-room  as  well  as  in  the  pulpit,  and  so 
irksome  to  him  the  labor  of  preparing  a  manuscript  for  the 
press. 

Whatever  he  might  have  accomplished  in  other  relations, 
in  this  respect  he  disappointed  his  friends.  They  had  antici- 
pated some  great  work  from  his  pen  ;  but,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  racy  articles  for  newspapers,  he  has  left  in  print 
only  "A  brief  Treatise  on  the  Canon  and  Interpretation  of 
the  Scriptures  ; "  a  pamphlet  on  "  The  Marriage  Question  ; " 
together  with  two  discourses,  —  the  one  on  "A  Standing  Min- 
istry ; "  the  other,  "  A  Vindication  of  the  Religious  Spirit 
of  the  Age,"  —  both  written  and  preached  during  the  period 
of  his  youthful  pastorate. 

But  whoever  may  have  read  these  discourses  will  respond 
to  our  expression  of  regret  that  Dr.  McClelland  had  not 
selected  and  revised  a  given  number  of  manuscript  sermons 
for  the  press. 

Though  hearers  differ  in  their  views  of  the  merits  of  a 
particular  sermon,  and  their  judgment  is  not  unfrequently 
strangely  biased, — some  preferring  that  which  cost  the  least 
expense  of  studious  preparation,  or  that  which  has  merely 
captivated  the  fancy ;  yet  no  one  is  so  competent  a  judge 
of  his  own  written  utterances  for  the  pulpit  as  the  preacher 
himself,  —  that  is,  if  he  be  a  man  of  disciplined  thought,  and 


Yill 


PREFACE, 


critical  acumen.  He  alone  knows  what  object,  in  reliance 
on  God's  grace,  he  proposed  to  himself  in  essaying  a  par- 
ticular discourse  ;  and  whether  it  is  in  the  clearest,  strongest 
manner,  according  to  his  ability,  adapted  to  that  end  In 
proportion  to  its  adaptedness,  not  to  display  mental  re- 
sources, nor  to  secure  a  brilliant  reputation ;  but,  in  keep- 
ing with  the  great  design  of  the  gospel  ministry,  to  bring 
home  Bible-truth  to  the  heart  and  the  life,  —  will  be  its 
merits  in  the  view  of  him  who  can  conscientiously  say :  "  I 
believe,  and  therefore  speak." 

The  Bible  never  violates  its  unity  of  design.  The  Old 
Testament  is  contained  in  the  New,  and  the  New  Testament 
in  the  Old  ;  and  whether  our  attention  be  directed  to  ceremo- 
nial enactments  or  to  evangelical  requisitions,  —  to  prophecy 
or  to  miracles,  —  to  a  fact,  a  character,  an  incident,  an  argu- 
ment, or  a  saying,  —  to  the  tables  of  the  decalogue,  or  the 
precepts  of  the  gospel, —  to  Moses  or  to  Christ,  —  it  is  mani- 
fest that  the  Scriptures  have  but  one  and  the  same  object; 
that  is,  to  guide  us  into  the  way  of  eternal  life.  Thus,  the 
author  of  these  sermons,  though  wont  to  select  his  texts  from 
different  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  the  New,  seems 
to  have  been  guided  in  the  disposition  of  his  thoughts  on  any 
given  topic,  by  the  drift  of  Revelation  or  the  analogy  of 
Scripture,  —  showing  its  subservience  to  evangelical  truth 
and  duty ;  and  sometimes  disclosing,  but  in  a  manner  quite 
unexpected  to  his  hearers,  its  designed,  if  not  necessary, 
relation  to  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  or  to  its  scriptural  bear- 
ing on  the  future  of  the  soul. 

Still,  he  must  have  been  an  exception  from  all  preachers,  had 


PREFACE.  IX 

he  not  had  his  favorite  texts  or  subjects,  and  his  preferences 
among  his  mental  productions.  But  his  manuscripts  disclose 
no  marks  by  which  we  may  ascertain  whether  he  preached 
some  more  than  others ;  or  whether  any  one  among  them  was 
at  any  time  uttered  in  public.  Devoid  of  a  single  entry,  —  such 
as  ministers  are  accustomed  to  make,  and  which,  in  some  in- 
stances, amount  to  scores,  —  a  stranger,  on  examining  the 
manuscripts,  might  conclude,  from  the  hue  of  the  paper,  or 
from  some  local  reference  or  allusion  to  the  events  of  the 
day,  that,  though  written  at  different  periods  of  his  history, 
they  were  never  delivered.  Yet,  independently  of  my  own 
recollection,  I  have,  on  inquiry,  ascertained  from  several 
ministers  of  standing  in  different  churches,  that  these  are 
some  of  the  sermons  he  was  accustomed  to  use  after  his 
retiracy  from  the  pastoral  office.  A  few  of  them,  though 
comparatively  of  less  intrinsic  value,  —  having  owed  the  in- 
terest they  awakened  at  the  time  of  their  delivery  mainly 
to  the  force  of  circumstances,  —  are  so  well  remembered, 
that  to  withhold  them  would  be  to  disappoint.  Nor  have  I 
felt  at  liberty  to  modify  a  sentiment,  much  less  suppress  any 
view  of  a  mooted  point  as  found  in  the  manuscripts,  lest 
the  writer  should  not  be  immediately  recognized  by  those 
who  have  been  most  desirous  of  their  publication.  I  find, 
however,  from  various  interlineations  and  transpositions  in 
his  unmistakable  chirography,  that  some  of  the  manuscripts 
have  been  subjected  to  successive  corrections,  with  here  and 
there  either  an  erasure  or  addition  ;  and  that  several  have 
been  re-written  with  special  care. 

Bearing,  then,  the  impress  of  his  intellect  and  the  charac- 


X  PREFACE. 

teristics  of  his  style,  no  less  clearly  than  serving  to  convey 
to  the  inquiring  mind  the  grounds  of  his  faith  and  the  use 
he  was  wont  to  make  of  the  ethical  element  in  Christianity, 
they  may  be  viewed  as  constituting  a  fair  specimen  of  his 
pulpit  utterances. 

It  comes  not  within  our  province,  in  simply  editing  these 
sermons,  to  analyze  their  character,  or  formally  estimate 
Dr.  McClelland's  merits  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say,  that,  aside  from  his  "  eccentricities,"  so  called, 
which  failed  not  to  attract  notice,  and  his  not  unfrequent 
forms  of  expression,  which  were  apt  to  be  repeated,  —  thus 
rendering  minds  of  a  certain  class  not  a  little  curious  to 
hear  him,  —  it  were  to  be  expected  that  a  man  who  could 
deliver  his  sermons  from  memory  with  the  earnestness  of 
one  whose  mind  is  surcharged  with  his  subject,  with  the 
naturalness  and  ease  of  an  extemporaneous  speaker, —  hav- 
ing, too,  a  voice  of  unusual  flexibility,  fulness,  and  power, 
adapted  to  the  appropriate  expression  of  every  sentiment,  — 
would  awaken  an  interest  in  the  community,  and  become 
noted  for  the  style  and  manner  of  his  preaching. 

He  himself  could  not  endure  either  declamation  or  misti- 
ness in  the  pulpit,  much  less  prosing.  If  he  was  careful  to 
avoid  any  one  thing,  it  was  preaching  in  such  a  way  that  no 
one  could  understand  him,  or  take  an  interest  in  what  he 
said ;  much  more  of  exposing  himself  to  any  invidious 
reflection  on  his  understanding.  This  was  so  characteristic 
of  him,  that  he  might  have  appropriated  the  language  of 
old  Harrington  :  "  There  is  nothing  in  the  world,  next  to 
the  favor  of  God,  I  so  much  desire  as  to  be  understood." 


PREFACE.  XI 

On  one  occasion,  after  a  service,  he  said  to  the  minister 
who  had  occupied  the  pulpit :  "  Will  you  be  good  enough, 
sir,  to  tell  me  what  you  meant  by  that  expression  ?  I  did 
not  understand  you  ;  and  I  doubt  whether  your  Master  did." 

Again :  while  delivering  a  charge  to  a  young  minister 
just  installed,  he  said  ;  "  I  know  it  is  by  the  foolishness  of 
preaching  that  it  has  pleased  God  to  save  them  that  believe  ; 
but  be  careful,  young  man,  be  careful  lest  you  should  make 
your  preaching  too  foolish  !  " 

It  was,  perhaps,  owing  to  this, —  his  aversion  to  stereo- 
typed forms,  his  nervous  dread  of  even  approaching  to 
monotony  and  tediousness  in  the  pulpit, —  that  he  at  times 
verged  to  the  other  extreme :  resorting  to  irony,  to  a  stroke 
of  humor,  a  sarcastic  allusion,  a  quaint  story,  or  employing 
phrases  but  too  obvious  in  their  import  and  too  well  fitted  to 
divert  the  mind  of  an  audience  from  the  weighty  subject  to 
which  their  attention  had  been  called. 

Aside  from  this,  and  however  much  the  more  serious 
among  his  auditors  might  have  thought  that  he  occasionally 
deviated  too  far  from  that  grave  propriety  of  utterance 
which  becomes  the  pulpit,  yet  to  hear  him  was  to  be 
arrested  by  the  manner  of  his  discourse :  preaching  as  he 
did  in  his  early  and  best  days  with  the  freshness  and  fervor 
and  vigor  of  a  mind  that,  smitten  with  the  love  of  truth, 
works  out  its  own  thoughts  and  conclusions ;  with  the 
solemnity  of  one  whose  soul  is  overborne  with  a  sense  of 
spiritual  realities ;  with  the  boldness  and  fidelity  of  one  who 
is  "  determined  to  know  nothing,"  while  addressing  dying 
sinners,  "  but  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified." 


XII  PREFACE. 

Adhering  strictly  to  his  text,  he  was,  by  turns,  argument- 
ative, expository,  descriptive,  inferential,  and  experimental : 
having  cultivated  his  imagination  no  less  than  his  powers  of 
reasoning,  and  disciplined  his  faculties  to  habits  of  phi- 
losophic observation  as  well  as  to  rigorous  method  in  the 
investigation  of  truth  :  thus  securing  to  his  pulpit  clearness, 
strength,  variety,  and  aptness  of  illustration  ;  and,  had  it 
not  been  for  that  vein  of  sarcastic  humor  in  which  he  was 
so  prone  to  indulge,  rendering  his  ministrations  in  all  re- 
spects adapted  to  wide-spread  usefulness  and  permanent 
results. 

The  pulpit  essentially  differs  from  the  bar  or  the  plat- 
form in  the  temper  of  its  utterances.  Not  that  it  should 
lack  directness,  vividness,  and  force  ;  but  what  is  allowable, 
if  not  necessary,  in  other  relations  of  public  speaking,  in  this 
is  always  questionable;  and  we  are  the  less  reluctant  to 
note  the  distinction,  not  merely  because  the  high  and  serious 
end  which  the  pulpit  contemplates  would  seem  appropri- 
ately to  require  words  of  soberness  as  well  as  of  truth,  but 
also  from  the  fact  that  whatever  in  figurative  lan<?uaoje,  in 
illustration,  or  in  terms,  is  of  doubtful  propriety  in  the  utter- 
ances of  some  conspicuously  popular  preacher,  is  wont,  by 
amusing  or  infecting  the  imagination,  to  mislead  the  judg- 
ment of  some  youthful  candidate  for  the  ministry.  Thus, 
whenever  any  of  Dr.  McClelland's  youthful  admirers  es- 
sayed to  imitate  him,  it  was  in  his  peculiarities  rather  than 
in  those  qualities  which  constituted  his  real  excellence  as  a 
preacher,  —  excellence  so  decided,  that  allowance  could  be 
made  even  by  those  who  would  rather  he  had  omitted  his 


PRE  FA  CE,  XIII 

episodes  of  irony,  or  reserved  his  sarcasm  for  a  different 
occasion ;  an  allowance,  be  it  considered,  never  extended  to 
those  who  can  rise  no  higher  than  abortive  attempts  at  imi- 
tation. 

But  notwithstanding  his  propensity  to  excite  a  smile  at 
the  expense  of  some  one  or  other,  and  which,  from  neglect 
of  timely  efforts  to  control,  became  a  chronic  affection  of 
mind,  he  was  rich  in  thought,  evangelical  in  doctrine,  in 
general  practical,  and,  at  times,  searching  in  his  analysis 
of  the  carnal  mind ;  never  ministering  encouragement  to 
unscriptural  hopes,  nor  failing  to  expose  the  sophistries  of 
error  and  rebut  the  cavils  of  infidels.  Few,  if  any,  of  his  con- 
temporaries, during  the  early  years  of  his  ministry,  could 
be  more  instructive  than  he  on  any  given  point  of  duty; 
more  graphic  in  the  description  of  a  scene  or  delineation  of 
a  character ;  more  affecting  in  showing  forth  the  Saviour's 
dying  love,  or  impressive  in  addressing  dying  men,  when 
eternity,  with  its  vast  realities,  seemed  to  fill  the  sphere  of 
his  vision. 

In  the  course  of  preparation  for  his  successive  professor- 
ships, his  studies  necessarily  assumed  a  wider  range.  He 
had  resumed  and  extended  his  classical  readings ;  examined 
the  various  systems  both  of  ancient  and  modern  philoso- 
phy; watched  the  progress  of  scientific  investigation,  and 
noted  whatever  was  valuable  in  the  literature  of  his  day ; 
but  the  deeper  his  acquaintance  with  mind,  under  the  nat- 
ural conditions  of  its  development,  the  higher  his  apprecia- 
tion of  the  Bible.  In  it  was  exhaustless  material  for 
thought ;  repose  for  the  reason ;  food  for  the  soul,  nowhere 


XIV  PREFACE. 

else  to  be  found.  To  its  divine  authority  he  bowed  with 
docility  in  all  matters  of  faith ;  for  its  teachings  inculcated 
the  deepest  reverence ;  and,  inclined  as  he  was  to  specula- 
tive thought,  fond  of  broaching  a  theory  for  the  sake  of 
social  discussion,  or  testing  one's  ability  to  reply,  yet,  in  his 
serious  hours,  he  never  travelled  in  thought  beyond  the  in- 
spired record  :  thus  devoutly  recognizing  the  limits  of  legiti- 
mate speculation  in  relation  to  God  and  the  soul. 

In  his  judgment,  no  veneration  for  the  Bible  could  be 
i  relied  on  as  firm  and  effective,  that  is  not  founded  on  a  deep 
and  intimate  acquaintance  with  its  treasures.  No  one  can 
be  proof  against  the  suggestions  of  "  an  evil  heart  of  unbe- 
lief," and  much  less  the  imposing  theories  and  malign  insin- 
uations of  modern  skepticism,  who  has  not  subjected  him- 
self to  the  same  discipline  by  which  the  babe  in  Christ 
grows  up  to  be  a  healthy,  vigorous  man  in  Christ.  Hence, 
where  the  biblical  studies  of  too  many  end,  his  began,  and 
were  continued  at  intervals,  notwithstanding  the  pressure  of 
other  studies,  until,  during  the  period  of  his  last  professor- 
ship, his  Bible  became,  as  it  were,  a  part  of  his  intellectual 
self.  A  union  seemed  to  be  effected  between  his  very 
thinking  substance  and  the  favorite  subjects  of  its  medita- 
tions, which,  to  use  his  own  expression,  "  all  the  chemistry 
of  hell  could  not  dissolve." 

Other  ends  are  to  be  answered  by  the  use  of  "  the  lively 
oracles  of  God,"  than  to  abstract  from  them  a  few  simple 
propositions,  like  "  algebraic  formulas  or  gastronomical  rec- 
ipes." Error  is  to  be  respected  rather  than  "  a  puffy,  empty, 
gossiping  Christianity."     The  motives  which  the  Bible  pre- 


PREFACE.  XV 

sents  to  deter  from  sin  are  fearful  enough  to  the  mind  of 
serious  thought,  without  investing  "  the  doctrine  of  ever- 
lasting punishment"  with  material  terrors.  Truth,  however 
it  may  be  assailed  by  its  enemies,  can  be  injured  only  by  its 
friends.  These,  and  similar  views,  expressed  in  his  peculiar 
way,  did  not  always  convey  the  most  felicitous  idea  either 
of  his  orthodoxy  or  brotherly  love.  But  his  occasional  way 
of  noticing  any  turgid  representation  of  a  doctrine,  of  treat- 
ing some  miserable  conceit,  or  of  exposing  the  weak  points 
of  an  argument  even  when  advanced  in  behalf  of  an  or- 
thodox point,  only  proved,  to  those  who  knew  him,  not  the 
unsoundness  of  his  faith,  but  that  he  had  unwittingly  ren- 
dered himself  "  an  offender  for  a  word." 

For  many  years  he  preached  but  seldom.  It  was  often 
difficult  to  prevail  on  him  to  accept  an  invitation  ;  nor  would 
he  preach  unless  thoroughly  prepared.  Here  is  the  secret 
of  that  degree  of  pulpit  excellence  to  which  he  attained,  — 
it  was  hy  study.  From  my  earliest  recollection  of  him,  he 
was  a  close  student ;  and,  in  the  whole  course  of  my  associ- 
ation with  ministers  of  the  gospel,  I  have  seldom  met  with 
one  who  bestowed  more  thought  on  a  discourse,  or  expended 
more  time  in  preparation  for  a  particular  service.  It 
seemed  to  be  his  settled  conviction,  that  no  one  could  re- 
fresh, much  less  kindle  and  elevate,  an  audience  but  by 
real  thought ;  and  this  could  be  attained  only  by  the  patient 
application  of  a  well-disciplined  and  richly-stored  mind  to  the 
fundamental  principles  of  Christian  faith  and  practice. 

What  were  the  precise  results  of  his  early  ministry  we 
are  unable  to  state.     The  greater  part  of  those  to  whom  he 


XYI  PREFACE. 

then  ministered  preceded  him  to  the  grave.  The  influence 
of  his  public  life,  therefore,  will  be  perpetuated  rather 
through  those  who,  during  their  collegiate  or  their  theologi- 
cal course,  enjoyed  his  instructions  and  heard  his  lectures, 
than  by  any  who  but  occasionally  heard  him  preach ;  though 
all,  who  either  attended  his  classes  or  retain  the  recollection 
of  any  sermon  they  might  have  chanced  to  hear,  will  be 
gratified  to  know  that  some  of  his  productions  were  not 
included  in  the  contents  of  the  old  "  hair  trunk  "  which  he 
"bequeathed  to  the  flames." 

R.  W.  D. 

New  Torh,  Jan.  2,  1867. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

1.  Ps  xcvii.  1.    The  Lord  Eeigneth, 1 

2.  Dan.  xi.  32.    The  Source  of  Moral  Strength,          .        .  23 

3.  James  i.  13.    God  neither  Tempts  nor  is  Tempted,     .        .  53 

4.  Rom.  v.  13.    The  Great  Problem, 77 

5.  Gen.  xxvii.  35.    The  Blessing  Obtained  by  Fraud,      .        .  101 

6.  Ps.  xxxvii.  8.    Fretfulness, 123 

7.  Ps.  Ixxvii.  2-13.    Causes  and  Cure  of  Low  Spirits,      .        .  143 

8.  1  Thess.  iv.  11.    Do  YOUR  Own  Business,     ....  '177 

9.  Prov.  iv.  7.    The  Principal  Thing, 195 

10.  Jer.  iv.  14.    Vain  Thoughts, 213 

11.  1  Kings  xviii.  21.    Halting  in  Religion,         .        .        .        .  233 

12.  John  iii.  36.    The  Two  Truths, 257 

13.  John  xix.  34.    Trustworthiness  of  the  Evangelists,         .  281 

14.  1  Cor.  vi.  20.    The  Price  of  our  Redemption,            .        .  309 

15.  Col.  i.  19.    The  Fulness  of  Christ, 333 

16.  Deut.  xxxii.  29.    The  Consideration  of  Death,         .        .  369 

17.  1  Cor.  xv.  42.    The  Resurrection  of  the  Body,    .        .        .  391 


The  Lord  Eeigneth. 


SERMONS. 


I. 

THE  LORD  REIGNETH. 


Ps.  97  :  1.     ^)^z  ^ortr  ntgnctl^ :  Itt  ihz  cartlj  rtjout. 


HOUGH  nothing  more  had  been  revealed  in 
Scripture  than  the  genial  truth  contained  in 
this  one  passage,  it  would  be  the  richest 
boon  ever  conferred  on  mankind.  When 
the  sublime  sentiment  is  engraven  on  the  heart, — 
"  There  is  a  God,  there  is  a  Providence,"  —  we  med- 
itate with  serene  Christian  philosophy  on  the  various 
untoward  occurrences  that  are  turning  up  on  our 
restless  little  planet.  The  human  actors  are,  with  all 
their  bravery  and  strut,  mere  fantoccini  or  dancing 
puppets,  acting  their  little  part  on  the  stage  according 
to  the  will  of  the  great  Mechanician,  who  holds  within 
his  fingers  every  one  of  the  strings  that  give  them  play 
and  movement.  Thus,  whether  revolving  the  past, 
present,  or  future,  we  exult  in  the  persuasion  that  we 
are  under  the  best  of  governments,  because  at  its  head 
is  the  best  of  beings. 
1 


2  SERMONS. 

I  propose  to  offer  a  few  plain  thoughts  on  the  ex- 
tent of  the  divine  dominion  and  some  of  its  essential 
properties ;  not,  however,  on  the  whole  extent,  for 
that  would  open  too  large  a  field ;  but  that  imme- 
diately and  specifically  named  in  the  text,  — "  The 
Lord  reigneth  :  let  the  eartJi  rejoice."  To  this  small, 
outlying  province,  then,  of  the  divine  empire  your  at- 
tention will  be  drawn  ;  first,  to  the  physical  earth, 
and  secondly  to  its  moral  inhabitants. 

I.  The  physical  earth,  or  what  is  commonly  called 
Nature.  We  sometimes  allow  ourselves  to  be  cheated 
out  of  our  belief  in  great  truths  by  the  sophistry  of 
high-sounding,  though  really  empty,  words.  Provi- 
dence, we  are  sometimes  told,  if  it  has  any  proper 
meaning,  is  simply  the  regular  operation  of  certain  gen- 
eral laws,  which  are  either  eternal  or  were  impressed 
on  matter  at  the  creation.  These  laws  are  living  forces^ 
doing  their  work  unbidden  and  unaided,  nor  requir- 
ing the  interference  of  any  extrinsic  agent.  Accord- 
ing to  this  theory,  which  establishes  a  true  deification 
of  nature,  a  God  might  have  been  indispensable  when 
finite  existence  commenced ;  but  has  been  super- 
seded by  the  collegium  of  inferior  potencies  to  whom 
the  working  of  the  great  machine  is  now  committed, 
except  that,  at  distant  intervals,  he  may  appear  for  a 
moment  to  wind  it  up.  Strange,  that  men  of  sense 
should  be  found  to  sport  such  unmitigated  absurdi- 
ties, as  if  those  living  forces,  which  they  speak  of  with 
such  glib  assurance,  were  so  many  gods  and  goddesses, 
and  not  simply  abstractions  of  the  understanding,  — 
general  names  applied  to  classes  of  facts  regularly 
assorted  for  the  advantage  of  the   memory  and  for 


SERMONS.  3 

convenient  expression !  The  efficient  causes  (the 
real  vital  energy),  that  underlie  and  animate  the 
mighty  mass  of  being,  are  not  seen  nor  comprehended. 
We  perceive  one  event  succeeding  another  in  un- 
broken order ;  but  what  in  one  produces  and  necessi- 
tates the  other,  no  science  will  ever  explain,  unless, 
accepting  the  teachings  of  a  higher  wisdom,  she 
attributes  it  to  the  immediate  efficiency  of  the  great 
First  Cause  "  in  whom,"  as  the  apostle  expresses  it 
beautifully  and  with  philosophical  precision,  "we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being."  Such  seems  to 
be  the  conclusion  in  actual  favor  with  enlightened 
physicists  of  the  present  day.     Nature  is 

"  Owned  a  name  for  an  effect,  whose  cause  is  God.    He  feeds  the  secret 

fire; 
By  him  the  mighty  process  is  maintained;  who  sleeps  not,  is  not  weary, 

in  whose  sight 
Slow  circling  ages  are  as  transient  days,  and  whose  beneficence   no 

change  exhausts." 

Starting  from  these  reflections,  let  us  survey  for  a 
moment  the  fair  variety  of  things  around  us.  What 
order  is  exhibited  !  What  admirable  proportions  and 
mutual  adaptation  !  It  may  be  compared  to  a  mag- 
nificent tissue  or  web,  formed  by  innumerable  golden 
threads,  crossing  and  interlacing  each  other  with 
such  beautiful  regularity  that  everything  is  in  its 
proper  place,  and  all  united  make  up  a  grand  whole, 
which  it  is  impossible  to  look  upon  without  admira- 
tion. The  heavenly  bodies  roll  along  their  appointed 
path  with  calm  majesty,  never  in  their  march  jostling 
each  other  nor  deranging  their  respective  movements. 
The  earth  remains  lightly  poised  in  mid-ether,  and 
yet  stable  as  if  built  on  indestructible   foundations. 


4  SERMONS. 

Every  year  brings  on  the  seasons  in  due  succession. 
Every  day  sees  the  luminous  ball  above  our  heads 
rise  and  sink  at  the  marked-out  moment.  Nature 
makes  no  mistake.  The  insect,  bird,  quadruped,  fish, 
reptile,  —  all  are  provided  for.  All  wait  upon  God, 
that  he  may  give  them  their  meat  in  due  quantity 
and  time. 

Look  there,  at  a  spectacle  more  truly  admirable 
than  that  which  drew  from  Moses  the  exclamation, 
"  I  will  turn  aside  and  see  this  great  sight,"  — a  bush 
burning  with  fire  and  not  consumed.  You  see  the 
Lord  Almighty  —  who  sits  upon  the  circle  of  the 
heavens,  whose  arm  sustains  the  universe — feeding 
a  little  fly  !  In  a  word,  the  same  hand  that  created 
preserves.  There  is  in  the  universe  no  decay,  no 
destruction ;  what  we  call  destruction  being  nothing 
more  than  an  old  substance  passing  over  into  a  new 
form.  Whatever  beauty  or  use  the  works  of  God  had 
six  thousand  years  ago  they  have  to-day.  The  sun 
shines  out  on  our  gardens  and  cornfields  as  radiantly 
as  on  the  morning  when  he  commenced  his  circuit. 
The  ground  possesses  the  same  principle  of  fecun- 
dity as  when  it  first  heard  the  edict,  "  Let  it  bring 
forth  grass ;  the  herb  bearing  seed  and  the  fruit- 
tree  yielding  fruit  after  its  kind.  This  is  the  Lord 
reigning  in  the  physical  or  material  world. 

Equally  intimate  is  the  relation  between  an  all- 
pervading  Providence  and  the  affairs  of  man.  The 
same  divine  hand  that  controls  and  directs  the  proc- 
esses of  dead  nature  regulates  every  wheel  and  pulley 
in  the  complicated  mechanism  of  human  society.  All 
events,  whether  men  choose  to  call  them  the  great  or 


S£EiMONS.  5 

small,  are  ordered  according  to  the  counsel  of  his  will. 
Those  astonishing  changes  in  empires,  for  example, 
which  seem  to  arise  from  the  ambition  of  princes  or 
a  fortuitous  concurrence  of  circumstances,  are  under 
the  guidance  of  Him  who  mocks  the  projects  of  earthly 
wisdom,  laughs  to  scorn  the  shrewd  Ahithophels  of 
this  world,  —  blasting  their  enterprises  at  the  moment 
of  apparent  success,  and  at  last,  when  no  further 
purpose  is  to  be  answered  by  their  continuance  on 
the  stage,  hanging  them  with  their  own  rope.  Nor  is 
his  inspection  limited  to  the  earth's  mighty  ones.  I 
know  of  nothing  more  delightful  in  Holy  Scripture 
than  the  earnestness  with  which  it  dwells  on  the 
condescending  goodness  of  the  almighty  Parent  to 
men,  as  simple  individuals,  without  regard  to  adven- 
titious differences.  He  is  the  Father  of  the  father- 
less, the  stay  of  him  whom  no  man  regardeth, — 
glancing  as  benignantly  on  Bartimeus  in  his  blindness, 
and  Lazarus  in  his  poverty  and  sores,  as  on  Ahasue- 
rus,  sitting  on  the  throne  of  his  kingdom  and  reign- 
ing over  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces. 

But  the  doctrine  is  fanatical,  say  some.  It  lays 
down  the  unphilosophical  hypothesis  of  a  constant  ar- 
bitrary interference  with  the  regular  and  beautiful 
course  of  nature  established  at  the  beginning.  That 
he  is  the  original  Author  of  that  course,  and  exercises 
a  general  superintendence  over  the  laws  which  regu- 
late it,  the  objectors  concede,  —  at  least,  the  most 
serious  and  reflective  part  of  them ;  but  that  he  per- 
petually thrusts  in  a  violent  force  upon  their  legiti- 
mate operations  to  produce  special  results,  tries  too 

severely  their  powers  of  belief.     But  we  advocate  no 
1* 


6  SER310NS. 

violent  interposition  nor  miraculous  introduction  of  a 
discord  into  the  established  harmony  of  things.  We 
advocate  nothing,  in  short,  but  what  is  exemplified 
every  moment  by  our  own  operations  on  the  objects 
that  surround  us.  We  are  continually  acting  upon 
nature  by  our  free  volitions ;  exercising  over  it  a  direc- 
tive and  controlling  influence,  which  if  less  frequent 
would  be  scarcely  credited.  Let  me  illustrate  this 
idea  in  detail,  for  the  benefit  of  those  whom  the  sup- 
posed difficulty  seriously  embarrasses  ;  but  wliich  we 
shall  show,  without  much  trouble,  is  no  difficulty  at 
all. 

When  you  look  abroad,  you  see  everything  in 
movement.  Action  and  reaction,  union  and  decom- 
position, growth  and  decay,  —  in  a  word,  change,  stir, 
elemental  ivar,  —  seem  impressed  on  all  that  is  most 
stable  and  permanent.  We  talk  of  rest  in  the 
grave.  The  animal  chemist,  however,  informs  us 
that  this  is  true  only  in  figure,  —  that  the  most  in- 
tensively active  processes  with  which  he  is  acquainted 
are  incessantly  going  on  in  that  lively  little  world  — 
a  coffin.  When  we  undertake  to  explain  this  endless 
whirl  and  motion,  we  do  not  usually  refer  —  indeed 
never  except  in  religious  discourse  —  to  the  primary, 
efficient  cause  —  God  —  but  speak  of  certain  second- 
ary causes  which  are  in  constant  play  ;  for  example, 
electricity,  caloric,  gravitation,  impulse,  chemical 
affinity,  and  repulsion,  —  organic  life.  These  are 
nature's  drudge  laborers,  serving  her  witli  blind  obe- 
dience, never  deviating,  of  their  own  proper  mo- 
tion, a  hair-breadtli  from  the  track  marked  out 
for  them  in  the   creative  plan.     Looking  at  them 


SERMONS.  7 

alone.,  and  apart  from  a  still  higher  force,  you  might 
easily  conclude  that  all  things  happen  by  a  fatal 
necessity,  one  occurrence  growing  out  of  another  by 
an  immutable  law  of  causation.  But  now  bring 
upon  the  scene  a  new  agency  (I  am  not  speaking  of 
the  divine,  for  this  is  the  point  in  question),  —  I  say, 
a  new  agency,  entirely  different  in  its  manner  of  work- 
ing, and  more  exalted  by  possessing  the  attributes  of 
spirituality,  —  independence  and  self-determination  ; 
introduce,  in  other  words,  a  mind,  —  your  theory 
begins  to  topple  over,  like  all  ambitious  structures 
without  a  good  base  and  well-placed  centre  of  gravity. 
It  made  no  provision  for  this  high  poiuer.  Faithful  in 
observing  the  varied  phenomena  of  mere  matter,  and 
reasoning  on  them  with  perfect  accuracy,  if  they  had 
formed  the  whole  system  of  being,  it  did  not  bring 
man  into  its  iron  mathematics.  Look  at  this  book  a 
moment,  and  imagine  it,  if  you  please,  a  stone  lying 
on  the  ground.  There  it  is,  bound  to  the  earth  by 
the  law  of  gravity,  and  bound  to  remain  there,  as  far 
as  we  can  judge  ;  for  no  earthly  force  is  in  action  to 
counteract  the  tendency  to  remain  precisely  on  the 
spot  which  it  occupies.  But  it  begins  to  move, 
—  move  independently,  to  all  seeming,  of  every 
known  law  of  physics.  It  gently  rises,  as  if  it  had 
received  a  soul,  and  stands  self-poised  in  air  like 
Mohammed's  coffin.  A  '^  miracle,"  we  would  say,  if 
we  witnessed  it  for  the  first  time  ;  but,  familiar  with 
the  occurrence,  we  speak  of  the  force  of  a  human 
arm.  That  arm  received  its  movement  from  the 
contraction  of  a  piece  of  flesh  called  a  muscle;  and 
that  contraction  was  the  effect  of  an  incomprehen- 


8  SERMONS. 

sible  energy  communicated  through  little  threads  of 
nerves  from  the  brain.  And  what  of  the  brain  ?  All 
we  know  is,  that  its  action  was  excited  by  the  simple 
volition  or  will  of  a  being  who  possessed  the  power  of 
beginning  movement,  by  its  own  sovereign  thought. 
What,  indeed,  is  the  whole  life  of  man  but  a  success- 
ful struggle  with  necessity^ — an  almost  complete 
subjugation  of  the  activities  of  matter  to  his  pur- 
poses, nay,  to  his  whims  and  humors.  The  moment 
Adam  rose  out  of  the  dust  a  live  man,  he,  in  the 
exercise  of  his  free  agency,  put  himself  in  communi- 
cation with  an  external  world,  to  operate  on  it,  to 
change  it.  Standing  by  a  tree  loaded  with  fruit,  he 
puts  out  his  hand  by  a  simple  movement  of  his  mind, 
and  tears  from  the  stem  an  apple.  That  apple,  on 
the  objector's  principles,  ought  not  to  have  been  sub- 
jected to  such  treatment.  It  should  have  remained 
on  its  twig  till  it  had  advanced  from  ripeness  to 
decay,  then  fallen  to  the  ground  like  the  rest  of  its 
family,  and  remained  there  till  decomposition  ren- 
dered it  back  to  the  elements.  What  a  fine  history 
has  Adam  spoiled !  Here  we  see  a  little  animal, 
scarce  six  feet  high,  stepping  out  and  originating  a 
new  order  of  things  by  an  interposition  as  little  to  be 
expected,  before  the  fact,  as  any  which  we  attribute  to 
the  providence  of  the  Deity.  It  is  just  the  same  in 
all  cases.  His  whole  life  is,  as  I  have  said,  a  series 
of  interference.  He  might  be  defined  (it  is  surprising 
that  no  logician  ever  thought  of  it)  an  interfering 
animal.  He  commands  the  gold  to  come  from  the 
solid  rock,  where  it  should  have  remained  imbedded 
till  the  next  grand  telluric  catastrophe,  and  it  comes. 


SERMONS.  9 

At  his  edict  the  iron  leaps  from  its  ore,  and  forms 
itself  into  a  thousand  instruments  of  art,  not  one  of 
which  would  have  ever  existed  by  the  operation  of 
mere  physical  laws.  How  many  millions  and  billions 
of  years  would  it  have  taken  all  the  galvanism,  the 
electricity,  gravitation,  etc.,  in  the  universe,  to 
fabricate  this  little  button  on  my  coat,  or  this  pen- 
knife, had  not  a 'strong  will,  directed  by  reason  and 
intelligence,  walked  in  among  these  brute  forces,  and 
put  them  to  account ! 

Thus,  man  is  constantly  engaged  in  stamping  on 
the  works  of  God  his  own  image  and  superscription  ; 
mingling  his  own  personality  with  everything  he 
touches.  Nothing  comes  from  his  plastic  hand  un- 
changed. He  tunnels  the  mountains,  builds  cities, 
turns  forests  into  gardens,  spreads  a  network  of 
canals  and  railroads  round  the  globe,  by  means  of 
which  he  propels  himself  with  the  velocity  of  a  bird. 
He  shoots  through  the  air,  mocking  its  resistance  and 
the  power  of  gravity,  almost  verifying  that  sublime 
description  of  the  Deity,  "  He  rode  upon  a  cherub, 
and  did  fly  ;  yea,  he  did  fly  on  the  wings  of  the 
wind."  The  very  lightning  he  tames,  and  brings  it 
down  by  a  silken  string  into  his  bottle.  Even  his 
daily  food  is  extorted  by  him  from  mother  earth,  not 
without  violence  ;  and  some  of  its  most  valued  articles 
may  be  called  his  own  creation.  The  nutritive 
potato,  for  instance,  before  it  fell  into  his  hands,  was 
an  acrid  and  poisonous  root,  in  which  a  greater 
change  has  been  effected  than  if  one  of  our  savage 
aboriginals  were  taken  from  his  native  forest,  and,  by 
a  forcing  process  unhappily  not  yet  discovered,  made 


10  SERMONS. 

to  receive  the  stamp  of  a  high  civilization.  The 
wheat,  from  which  we  make  our  daily  bread,  is  not  a 
natural  production,  being  nowhere  found  except  in 
our  companionship.  Man  is  its  patentee  and  invent- 
or ;  at  an  early  period  he  discovered  a  mean  grass 
totally  void  of  alimentary  qualities  (some  think  it 
was  a  species  of  wild  mustard),  and,  after  a  long 
struggle,  succeeded  in  raising  it,  by  his  active  intel- 
ligence and  perseverance,  to  a  queenly  rank  in  the 
vegetable  kingdom. 

With  these  plain  evidences  before  us  of  a  human 
Providence  and  its  admirable  doings,  can  we  hesitate 
to  believe  that  the  same  high  attribute  belongs 
essentially  and  in  an  infinitely  higher  degree  to  the 
Almighty  Creator  ?  But  this,  they  say,  implies  that 
terrible  thing  —  a  "  miracle."  Eeally !  Does  man, 
in  impressing  his  free  activity  on  matter,  work  a 
miracle  ?  Is  it  an  unnatural  and  -  bloody  violence 
which  he  exercises  ?  We  do  not  find  anything 
miraculous  in  the  fact,  so  often  recorded  in  the  news- 
papers, that  the  commander  of  a  noble  ship,  by  his 
energetic  skill  in  managing  the  powers  of  nature, 
succeeds  in  drawing  off  from  a  lee-shore  in  the  very 
teeth  of  tide  and  tempest,  —  one  of  the  finest  spec- 
tacles the  eye  can  feast  on ;  —  but  the  suggestion 
makes  some  people  furiously  nervous  that  the  Author 
of  the  universe,  in  fit  emergencies, — answering,  let  us 
suppose,  the  mournful  cry  ascending  from  a  thousand 
of  his  perishing  creatures,  or  from  some  other  induce- 
ment worthy  of  moving  his  benevolent  heart,  —  may 
exercise  a  similar  control.  Let  us  take  the  comfort 
of  our  doctrine  without  the  least  misgiving.    Indeed, 


SERMONS.  11 

we  cannot  do  without  it.  The  inborn  sense  of  de- 
pendence,—  that  instinct  by  which,  in  the  hour  of 
peril  and  helplessness,  we  look  upward  to  the  heavens, 
—  proves  how  deeply  the  belief  is  laid  in  our  spirit- 
ual natures.  Yes  ;  the  Divine  Parent  is  in  constant 
communication  with  the  works  of  his  hands.  Miser- 
able would  be  the  state  of  things  if  there  was  the 
faintest  shadow  of  reason  to  suspect  that  we  have 
dropped  down  into  a  fatherless  world.  "  What 
would  it  concern  me,"  says  a  venerable  heathen  sage 
and  Roman  emperor,  "  to  live  in  a  world  without 
God  and  without  a  Providence?  Better,  if  things 
were  so,  to  he  a  dog  than  a  man  !  " 

II.  We  proceed  to  consider  some  of  the  essential 
properties  of  the  divine  administration,  as  delineated 
in  Holy  Scripture,  and  illustrated  by  apt  examples. 

Their  sovereignty,  or  independence  of  all  impelling 
causes,  except  the  ruler's  own  good  pleasure,  within 
the  limits,  however,  always  of  moral  rectitude,  for 
though  he  may  surprise  us  by  his  procedures,  he 
can  never  deny  himself.  This  appears  in  such  things 
as  the  following :  in  the  choice  of  individuals  to 
stations  of  eminence  and  usefulness ;  in  working  with 
or  without  means  ;  and  in  overruling  evil  for  the 
production  of  good.  Much  of  it  appears  in  the  selec- 
tion of  persons  to  particular  stations  and  services. 
Why,  asks  the  young  student  of  his  Bible,  was  a 
Mesopotamian  herdsman  chosen  to  be  the  father  of 
the  faithful,  the  recipient  of  the  promise  ?  Why  Aaron, 
the  idolater  and  calf-maker,  fixed  in  the  high-priest- 
hood to  the  exclusion  of  Moses,  his  more  deserving 
brother  ?     The  stripling  David  anointed  to  sway  the 


12  SEEIfONS. 

sceptre  rather  than  a  veteran  of  distinguished  repu- 
tation, inured  to  the  labors  of  the  camp  ?  Twelve 
poor  fishermen,  called  from  their  nets  to  apostolic 
responsibilities,  over  members  of  the  Sanhedrim, 
rulers  of  the  synagogue,  and  rich  Josephs  of  Arima- 
thea  ?  We  should  learn,  from  such  examples,  a  lesson 
of  contented  humility,  and  not  to  be  our  own  ap- 
praisers as  to  what  niche  of  honor  or  usefulness  we 
should  fill  in  society.  According  to  our  great  Chris- 
tian poet,  there  is  a  class  of  angels  before  the  throne 
who  have  no  active  services  to  perform,  but  are  not 
on  this  account  without  their  worth  and  dignity. 
"  These  stand  and  ivait,^^  he  says,  gracefully  acqui- 
escing in  their  inaction ;  contented,  since  God  will 
have  it  so,  that  others  have  the  honor  of  bearing  the 
heat  and  burden  of  the  day.  We  should  all  feel  that 
our  Master  can  do  perfectly  well  without  us,  and  that 
we  are  possibly  among  those  whose  best  obedience, 
under  existing  circumstances,  is  just  to  sit  still,  or  be 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  ivater. 

We  may  notice,  also,  that  as  he  qualifies  men  for  cer- 
tain services,  so  he  raises  them  up  at  the  proper  season, 
neither  too  early  nor  too  late.  It  is  a  favorite  specu- 
lation of  the  political  thinker,  that  when  a  community 
has  become  ripe  for  important  changes  in  their  condi- 
tion, the  person  or  persons  to  accomplish  it  are  always 
at  hand  ;  being  produced,  as  it  were,  by  spontaneous 
generation.  Hence  their  maxim,  "  With  the  time 
comes  the  man^  We  have  not  so  read  history.  It 
tells  us  that  nations  have  long  been  pressed  down  for 
a  succession  of  ages,  though  perfectly  nj^e  for  deliv- 
erance, because  there  was  no  deliverer  ;  and  also,  that 


SERMONS.  13 

when  actually  found,  he  seemed  to  be  the  child  of  an 
extraordinary  and  almost  miraculous  coocarrence  of 
circumstances.  When  Christianity  was  established 
in  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  third  century,  an  em- 
peror accomplished  it  who  had  been  converted  from 
heathenism  in  the  most  sudden  and  surprising  man- 
ner. When  Luther  arose,  he  would  soon  have  been 
quenched  out  but  for  a  great  temporal  prince,  —  the 
Elector  of  Saxony,  —  who,  by  a  singular  leading  of 
Providence,  was  induced  to  give  his  powerful  pro- 
tection. The  revolution  in  England,  which  estab- 
lished her  religious  and  civil  freedom,  was  accom- 
plished through  the  Dutch  William  of  Nassau,  who, 
having  married  into  the  exiled  family,  stepped, 
against  all  human  expectation,  into  the  vacant 
throne.  Or,  coming  home  to  ourselves,  was  such  a 
man  as  George  Washington  the  product  of  sponta- 
neous generation  ?  Let  us  amend  the  maxim  by  the 
addition  of  a  single  word,  and,  instead  of  saying 
"  With  the  time  comes  the  man,^^  let  us  affirm  the  high 
and  glorious  truth,  "  With  God's  time  comes  the  man 
of  God  to  do  his  work  in  the  earth." 

Again ;  God  often  exhibits  sovereignty  by  the  un- 
likely ways  and  means  through  which  he  brings  about 
important  events.  The  daughter  of  Pharaoh,  a  vola- 
tile girl,  is  filled,  by  a  strange  influence  on  her  mind, 
with  a  compassionate  love  to  the  future  legislator  of 
Israel,  though  a  detested  Hebrew,  and  brings  him  up 
as  her  own  son.  The  sling  and  stone  of  a  young 
shepherd-boy  prevail  over  the  huge  bulk  and  spear, 
like  a  weaver's  beam,  of  Goliath.  Thus,  by  the  inade- 
quacy of  the  means,  —  so  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 


14  SEE  MO  A' 8. 

end  proposed,  that  reason,  unassisted  by  faith,  is 
shocked  at  the  incongruity, —  God  lets  us  see  that  the 
efficacy  is  of  himself  alone,  and  that  no  seeming  impos- 
sibilities should  stagger  the  confidence  of  his  people. 
Sovereignty  also  appears  in  restraining  the  purposes  of 
the  wicked,  and  changing  their  counsels.  Laban  pur- 
sued Jacob  with  intents  of  mischief,  probably  murder. 
But  a  mighty  yet  gentle  finger  so  touched  certain 
springs  in  the  hard  man's  bosom  that,  when  they  meet, 
the  storm  has  become  a  calm,  and  their  parting  is  in 
peace.  It  is  noted  by  the  Rabbis,  as  a  remarkable  fact 
in  Old-Testament  history,  that  the  implacable  Philis- 
tines never  once  attacked  Judea  in  those  seasons  of 
the  year  when  all  the  males  were  worshipping  at  Shi- 
loh,  and  the  borders  of  the  country  left  without 
defenders.  At  an  important  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the 
church  it  was  deemed  expedient  to  engage  the  ser- 
vices of  a  young  Pharisee,  distinguished  by  his  bitter 
opposition  to  the  cause,  —  Saul  of  Tarsus.  Instantly 
the  furious  persecutor  is  transformed  into  a  disciple 
such  as  the  world  never  saw.  I  am  confining  myself 
to  Bible  illustrations,  which  every  child  in  a  Christian 
audience  may  be  presumed  to  know,  aware,  at  the 
same  time,  that  facts  of  a  miraculous  nature  may 
be  thought  by  some  not  exactly  appropriate  to  a  gen- 
eral argument  for  Divine  Providence. 

But  consider  this  matter  right.  The  miracle,  in  a 
transaction  of  this  kind,  is  merely  an  attendant  cir- 
cumstance, not  its  principle.  It  is  the  garniture  and 
vestment,  or,  we  may  say,  the  carcass  of  God's  sublime 
idea,  which  he  sends  out  thus  apparelled  in  special 
conjunctures,  that  men  may  see  it  whose  minds  are 


SERMONS.  15 

not  yet  trained  for  spiritual  vision,  —  7iot  the  idea  it- 
self,—  as  the  rolling  thunder  does  not  produce  the 
magnificent  effects,  often  witnessed,  which  set  us  all 
agape,  but  only  give  the  electric  fluid  voice  ;  in  other 
words,  is  its  sign  and  accompaniment,  which  might  be 
conceived  as  entirely  absent  while  the  true  power  is 
in  concentrated  action.  Notv,  the  Supreme  Disposer 
moves  in  a  more  silent  way  his  wonders  to  perform. 
There  is  the  electric  energy  luitJiout  the  thunder.  Every 
recorded  miracle,  therefore,  is  truly  ours,  and  for  us, 
—  not  to  gaze  at  with  stupid  wonderment,  but  to  ex- 
tract its  rich  kernel  of  meaning.  Only  let  us  draw 
aside  the  outward  drapery,  and  get  behind  the  veil, 
and  at  once  we  find  ourselves  in  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
not  as  "  strangers  and  foreigners,  but  fellow-citizens 
of  the  saints  and  the  household  of  God,"  contem- 
plating the  same  grand  truths  that  have  been  the  life 
and  soul  of  piety  in  every  age  since  the  world  began. 
A  second  property  of  the  divine  administration  is  its 
rectitude.  Nothing,  indeed,  seems  more  opposite  to 
this,  in  a  mere  glancing  view,  than  the  general  aspect 
of  human  society.  Wickedness  is  everywhere  rampant. 
Piety  for  the  most  part  lies  neglected  in  dark  corners, 
while  the  bad  are  crowned  with  wealth,  influence,  and 
applause.  But,  after  all,  what  matters  it  that  Heaven 
has  bestowed  the  largest  and  juiciest  slices  of  this 
world  to  those  who  abuse  the  gift  ?  These  juicy  slices 
are  their  all;  a  poor  portion,  at  best,  but  most  beg- 
garly when  we  consider  how  soon  it  takes  wings, 
and  flies  away  like  an  eagle  toward  heaven.  The 
good  man's  afflictions,  in  the  language  of  the  apostle, 
"  endure  only  a  moment,  and  work  out  a  far  more 


16  SERMONS. 

exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory."  He  is  put 
in  the  furnace  to  burn  out  his  dross,  and  make  him 
a  vessel  fit  for  holy  temple  use.  Call  to-  mind  that 
the  most  precious  ornaments  of  the  old  sanctuary 
were  made  of  beaten  gold.  To  be  brought  to  proper 
fineness,  it  must  be  beaten,  and  well  beaten,  —  and 
thus,  "  whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth,  and 
scourge th  every  son  whom  he  receiveth." 

Universal  experience  shows  that  prosperity  is  not 
the  field  where  virtue  flourishes.  The  soil  is  too 
rich.  A  luxuriance  of  weeds  chokes  the  tender 
plants,  and  makes  them  unfruitful.  When  Jeshuran 
waxed  fat,  he  kicked.  Adam's  defection  took  place 
in  Paradise.  Noah's  generous  vine,  though  a  horti- 
cultural success,  proved  a  fearful  snare  to  the  old 
patriarch.  But  we  never  hear  of  any  of  the  old 
heroes  of  the  faith  being  permanently  the  worse  for 
their  trials.  "Was  Israel  forgotten  in  Egypt  and 
Babylon,  Jeremiah  in  the  dungeon,  Job  when  he 
sat  down  in  the  ashes,  or  Daniel  among  the  lions  ? 
No  !  A  hand  unseen  sustained  them,  and,  when  their 
smitings  were  sorest,  their  helps  were  nearest.  Here 
is  the  solution  of  the  great  problem  of  suffering 
virtue,  which  has  engaged  so  many  minds  in  vain 
attempts  to  unriddle  it  ;  vain,  I  say,  and  utterly 
futile,  "  darkening  counsel  with  words  without  knowl- 
edge," because  they  brought  to  the  solution  no  faith  in 
God. 

III.  The  dispensations  of  Providence  are  all  sub- 
sidiary to  the  mediatorial  kingdom  of  Christ.  This 
opens  a  bright  scene  to  observant  piety.  The  con- 
fusion of  tongues  at  Babel  produced  the  peopling  of 


SERMONS.  17 

those  regions  which  have  since  been  brought  to  the 
fellowship  of  the  gospel.  The  calling  of  Abraham 
from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  was  the  origin  of  that  na- 
tion through  whom  the  Saviour  was  to  be  manifested. 
The  bringing  this  people  from  Egypt  to  Canaan, 
preserving  them  distinct  amidst  their  numerous  dis- 
persions, so  that  they  never  lost  their  national  life ; 
at  length  causing  the  sceptre  of  Judali  to  depart,  and 
erecting  the  Roman  standard  on  Mount  Zion,  —  all 
this  series  ot  events,  disturbing  no  man's  free  agency, 
each  happening  in  the  most  natural  and  apparently 
spontaneous  man»er,  —  for  this  is  a  beautiful  feat- 
ure of  the  divine  government,  that  it  for  the  most 
part  works  with  the  human  will  and  not  against  it,  — 
was  calculated,  with  a  wisdom  which  has  extorted  ad- 
miration of  mere  philosophers  and  secidar  historians, 
to  bring  upon  the  stage,  with  due  impressiveness, 
Messiah,  the  Desire  of  the  nations. 

Now,  I  say  that  from  these  past  developments  we 
may  draw  a  pleasant  augury  for  the  future.  To  an 
observant  mind,  the  evidence  that  our  moral  earth, 
amid  all  its  heavings  and  perturbations,  is  decidedly 
advancing,  are  unmistakable.  The  movement  may 
be  slow  and  tantalizing,  but  it  perceptibly  moves  ;  and 
thoughtful  spirits  note  with  curious  interest  that 
every  year  increases  its  velocity.  Men  who  think 
are  beginning  to  see  that  there  is  something  more 
in  history  than  an  assemblage  of  dead  facts,  — 
that  there  is  a  plan,  a  thought-out  scheme  of  things, 
underlying  the  surface  of  events,  the  tendency  of 
which  is  to  improvement,  progress,  the  extirpation  of 
old  errors  and  forms  of  wrong,  the  reign  of  higher 


18  SERMOXS. 

maxims,  and  the  development  of  powers,  which,  in 
their  full  unfolding,  will  carry  up  our  nature  to  a 
point  at  which  the  glowing  words  of  the  Psalmist  will 
be  more  than  verified :  "'  Thou  madest  him  but  little 
lower  than  the  angels."  They  may  be  slow  to  ac- 
knowledge that  this  means  the  coming  reign  of 
Christ.  But  we  understand  the  matter,  we  children 
of  the  hook.  The  oracle  speaks  to  us  in  no  ambiguous 
voice :  "I  have  sworn  by  myself,  and  the  word  shall 
not  return,  that  to  me  every  knee  shall  bow,  every 
tongue  shall  swear." 

"  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Doth  his  successive  journeys  run; " 

and  the  grand  te  Deum  shall  be  taken  up  by  uni- 
versal redeemed  liumanity,  that  eighteen  centuries 
ago  was  commenced  by  a  celestial  choir  on  the  plains 
of  Bethlehem,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  peace 
on  earth,  and  good  will  towards  men." 

Those  very  events  in  the  church,  which  seem  most 
disastrous,  are  in  reality  ministering  angels,  robed  in 
crajje,  if  the  phrase  be  allowed ;  but  not  the  less 
doing  angel  service ;  leaving,  wherever  they  touch, 
like  the  ark  in  the  house  of  Obed  Edom,  a  blessing 
behind  them.  In  early  times  the  truth  became  so 
manifest  as  to  become  a  proverb,  that  "  the  blood  of 
the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church,"  and  the  terri- 
ble persecutions  of  heathen  tyrants  only  gave  impetus 
to  that  spiritual  commonwealth,  which,  like  the  stone 
cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands,  is  destined  to 
break  in  pieces  all  other  kingdoms.  So,  from  the 
bosom  of  a  corrupt  hierarchy,  which,  only  a  few  years 


SERMONS.  19 

previous,  had  acliicved  a  seemingly  complete  triumph 
over  liberty  of  thought  and  a  free  gospel,  sprang  tlie 
glorious  Reformation.  Indeed,  it  would  appear  to  be 
a  ground  truth  and  a  general  law,  that  everything 
fair  and  good  in  the  earth  is  engendered,  not  from  an 
antecedent  fair  and  good,  but  from  a  turbid  chaos. 
The  temporary  declensions  and  backslidings  of  Chris- 
tians, for  instance,  excite  to  greater  humility  and 
vigilance  their  fellow-disciples,  and  themselves  at  a 
subsequent  period.  The  final  apostasy  of  mere  nom- 
inal church-members  separates  the  chaff  from  the 
wheat,  and  thus  operates  in  a  quiet,  but  most  effect- 
ual way  as  a  moral  purifier.  Even  the  death  of  em- 
inent saints,  like  the  bones  of  Elisha,  carries  a  res- 
urrection with  it.  It  awakens  survivors  to  greater 
activity  and  vigor,  just  as  the  fall  of  a  gallant  soldier 
induces  those  who  had  been  lagging  to  take  his 
place  in  the  "  imminent  deadly  breach."  "  The  Lord 
reigns,  let  the  earth  rejoice." 

In  conclusion,  let  us  make  a  due  improvement 
of  this  pleasing  subject.  Is  a  divine  throne  in 
the  midst  of  us  ?  Then  give  it  your  faith  and 
loyalty ;  be  satisfied  with  the  station  assigned  to 
you ;  believe  that  you  are  in  the  right  place,  on 
the  very  spot  which  unerring  wisdom  intended 
you  to  occupy  for  working  out  the  sacred  prob- 
lem of  life  and  destiny ;  abound  more  and  more 
in  the  duties  which  become  dependent  creatures,  —  in 
thanksgiving,  obedience,  meek  submission,  and  ar- 
dent devotion ;  so  that,  at  the  close  of  life,  you  will 
be  able  to  adopt  the  language  of  the  venerable  Scot- 
tish elder  in  his  last  sickness ;  who,  to  the  question 


20  SJEEMONS. 

of  a  friend  engaged  in  wiping  the  death-damp  from 
his  brow,  replied :  "  I  have  not  a  single  anxiety  ; 
the  great  Being  has  been  always  kind  to  me ;  what- 
ever he  has  done  to  mo  was  good  and  for  my  good ; 
and  why  should  I  be  afraid?  I  am  alike  hajyj)^ 
that  I  have  lived,  and  hapi^y  that  I  a7n  going  to  die^ 

Further,  while  trusting  him  for  yourselves,  look 
hopefully  to  the  future  in  relation  to  mankind  at 
large.  There  is  a  good  time  coming  to  the  race ;  do 
not  doubt  it.  You  are  sometimes  dejected  at  the 
thought  of  living  in  a  world  so  full  of  misery,  sin, 
and  sorrow  ;  never  forget,  however,  that  it  is  a  world 
full  of  God.  All  shall  turn  out  right  at  last,  though 
at  present  the  threads  are  so  tangled  up  that  a  vigor- 
ous faith  is  needed  to  accept  the  possibility  of  a 
future  unravelment. 

Lastly,  we  have  noticed  that  there  is  a  kingdom  of 
grace  on  the  earth,  as  well  as  a  kingdom  of  prov- 
idence. Then  endeavor,  above  all  things,  to  know 
whether  you  are  real  subjects  of  this  spiritual  empire. 
Are  you  going  up  through  the  wilderness,  leaning  on 
the  Almighty  arm  of  Him  who  died  for  you,  whose 
name  and  memorial  is  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords  ?  Unless  he  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  his  grace 
and  spirit,  it  is  impossible  to  take  any  solid  comfort 
in  the  thought  of  a  heavenly  Providence,  or  to  say 
from  the  depths  of  a  sincere  and  earnest  soul,  '^The 
Lord  reigneth;  let  the  earth  be  glad."  "Out  of 
Christ,"  we  are  compelled  to  remind  you,  he  ''  is  a 
consuming  fire." 


The  Source  of  Moral  Strength, 


II. 

THE    SOURCE    OF  MORAL    STRENGTH. 


Daniel  11:32.     %\z  ptople  tbat  bo  knob  tl^nr  6ob  sl^all  ht  slro  ng. 


LITTLE  more  than  a  century  ago  an  in- 
genious and  learned  writer  excited  no  little 
ferment  in  the  speculative  world  by  proposing 
for  grave  consideration  the  question  whether 
a  community  of  atheists  could  exist.  With  his  usual 
love  of  singularity,  he  held  the  affirmative,  and  wrote 
an  elaborate  work  in  its  defence  and  elucidation. 
Not  content  with  asserting  that  men  might  exist  in 
a  social  state  and  perform  all  the  duties  of  good  citi- 
zens without  any  recognition  of  a  Supreme  Ruler 
and  Judge,  he  declared  his  opinion  that  a  community 
so  organized  possessed  many  considerable  advantages^ 
or  at  least  was  far  preferable  to  a  union  of  super- 
stitious devotees,  who,  while  they  acknowledged  the 
existence  of  a  God,  entertained  false  and  mean  con- 
ceptions of  his  character.  It  would  be  foolish  to 
deny  that  this  part  of  his  argument  is  exceedingly 
plausible.  Between  the  two  extremes  of  rank  super- 
stition and  pure,  unadulterated  scepticism,  there  is 
probably  little  to  choose.  If  from  the  negation  of  all 
belief,  which  characterizes  the  latter,  no  pleasant  or 
refreshing  fruits  may  be  expected,  what  better  things 
can  be  hoped  from  positive  error  concerning  the  na- 


24  SJ£RMONS. 

ture  and  will  of  the  great  Parent  of  the  Universe. 
Is  a  vacant  throne  worse  than  a  throne  filled  by  a 
tyrant  ?  As  soon  let  us  acknowledge  that  there  is  no 
Cfod  as  call  up  before  our  imaginations  a  ghastly 
phantom,  that  delights  in  blood ;  a  childish  phantom, 
that  takes  pleasure  in  idle  ceremonies  ;  or  a  monster, 
who  commands  us,  on  pain  of  his  everlasting  maledic- 
tion, to  contradict  the  plainest  dictates  of  our  under- 
standing, and  belie  the  purest  sentiments  of  the  heart. 
On  this  topic,  those  who  institute  comparisons  between 
atheism  and  corrupted  theism,  with  a  favorable  lean- 
ing to  the  former,  expatiate  eloquently  and  amply. 
Superstition,  say  they,  enervates  the  soul.  Attacking 
us  on  the  side  of  our  conscious  weakness,  and  awaken- 
ing fear  rather  than  stimulating  hope,  it  paints  the 
object  which  it  proposes  to  our  worship  in  the  most 
gloomy  colors.  A  God,  whose  holiness  consists  in  pro- 
hibiting the  gratification  of  inclinations  he  has  himself 
implanted ;  whose  glory  is  promoted  by  the  unhappi- 
ness  of  his  creatures  ;  who  watches  over  them  only  to 
mark  with  anger  the  slightest  excess  or  omission  ; 
whose  justice  is  inexorable,  or  only  to  be  appeased  by 
painful  and  expensive  sacrifices  ;  and  on  whom  his 
worshippers  can  place  so  little  dependence  that  after 
all  their  efforts  they  may  fail  in  procuring  his  favor, 
and  securing  themselves  against  the  unknown  evils  of 
futurity ;  —  such  is  the  God  who  has  too  often  been 
seated  on  the  throne  of  the  imiverse,  and  to  whom  a 
large  proportion  of  mankind  have  in  every  age  ren- 
dered trembling  homage.  Is  it  wonderful  that,  nur- 
tured from  earliest  infancy  in  such  conceptions  of 
the  great  Father  of  all,  they  should  grow  up  into 


SEEMON-S.  25 

poor,  mean-liearted  slaves,  scarcely  daring  to  walk 
upright  on  earth,  and  shivering  at  every  unusual  oc- 
currence in  nature  as  an  omen  of  approaching  ven- 
geance ?  Such  is  the  religion  of  too  many  even  in 
Christian  lands ;  a  religion  full  of  discomfort  and 
dark  forebodings,  which,  by  its  harrowing  representa- 
tions, changes  the  fair  face  of  nature  into  deformity, 
casts  poison  into  all  the  fountains  of  happiness,  and 
makes  cowards  of  the  bravest  hearts.  Its  wretched 
votary  feels  himself  unfit  to  live,  and  yet  more  unfit 
to  die. 

But  while  we  cheerfully  concede  to  the  enemies  of 
superstition  that  in  this  statement,  which  we  have 
put  into  their  mouths,  there  is  some  truth,  and  that 
there  are  forms  of  that  baneful  evil  almost  as  intol- 
erable as  the  want  of  all  religious  principle,  we  would 
remind  them  that  there  is  a  true  knowledge  of  God, 
which  is  not  difficult  of  attainment,  and  the  opera- 
tion of  which  is  as  blessed  as  that  of  the  other  is 
pernicious  and  fatal.  Happy  is  the  community  in 
which  it  flourishes  and  yields  its  appropriate  fruits. 
Thrice  happy  the  individual  who  feels  its  sacred  in- 
fluences. It  exalts  while  it  purifies  the  soul,  and 
breathes  a  divine  vigor  into  all  its  faculties.  He 
who  has  come  to  the  enjoyment  of  this  heavenly 
light  is  like  a  benighted  traveller,  who,  after  toiling 
many  weary  hours  through  tangled  forest  and  deep 
morass,  the  yell  of  some  ferocious  beast  every  mo- 
ment striking  upon  his  ear,  and  imagination  con- 
juring up  a  thousand  frightful  spectres,  at  length 
sees  the  glorious  orb  of  day  rising,  as  if  out  of  com- 
passion upon  his  misery  and  for  the  express  purpose  of 


26  SERMONS. 

guiding  him  to  a  path  of  safety.  He  stands  erect, 
looks  around  him  fearlessly,  and  walks  on  with  firm 
and  elastic  step,  astonished  at  the  change  he  has  ex- 
perienced. This  is  the  truth  to  the  consideration  of 
which  you  are  invited  by  my  text.  "  The  people 
that  do  know  their  God  shall  be  strong."  They  shall 
be  full  of  vigor  and  courage.  They  shall  exhibit, 
under  all  circumstances,  a  force  of  character,  which, 
though  exerted  in  a  very  different  direction  from 
what  the  world  calls  such,  is  infinitely  above  it  in 
respect  both  to  the  principles  from  whence  they  re- 
spectively spring  and  the  effects  they  produce. 

Before,  however,  entering  on  details,  it  will  be 
proper  to  determine  the  nature  of  this  knowledge 
spoken  of  in  our  text,  it  being  too  evident  that  there 
is  a  knowledge  of  God  which  exercises  no  such  in- 
vigorating influence  on  the  human  character. 

That  it  must  be  true  knowledge,  involving  accurate 
conceptions  of  the  attributes,  will,  and  government 
of  the  Almighty,  we  sufficiently  intimated  in  our  in- 
troductory remarks.  It  is  not  required  that  the 
ideas  we  have  of  him  be  adequate^  or  fully  answera- 
ble to  his  mysterious  nature.  "  Who  by  searching 
can  find  him  out  ?  Who  can  know  the  Almighty  to 
perfection?"  His  pavilion  is  thick  darkness,  and  the 
loftiest  genius  who  attempts  to  rise  above  a  few 
simple  notions  of  unbounded  power,  unbending  holi- 
ness, and  goodness  beyond  compare,  soon  finds  that 
he  has  no  wings  for  such  an  adventurous  flight. 
But  our  apprehensions,  so  far  as  they  go,  may  be 
perfectly  conformable  to  the  Archetype ;  and  in  the 
gospel  he  has  given  such  clear  notices  of  himself  as 


SEEMONS.  2T 

leave  every  one  who  entertains  ideas  positively  false, 
without  excuse.  He  is  there  revealed  as  our  Crea- 
tor, our  Legislator,  and  our  Judge  ;  but  he  is  more. 
Taking  compassion  on  our  sin  and  wretchedness,  he 
sent  his  only  begotten  Son  into  the  world  to  redeem 
us  from  death,  and  restore  us  to  a  place  among  his 
sons.  He  receives  the  believing  penitent  as  a  parent 
his  returning  prodigal  child,  enters  into  covenant 
with  him,  is  ever  present  to  support  him,  guides,  sanc- 
tifies, and  in  due  time  receives  him  into  his  heavenly 
kingdom.  These  truths,  with  others  of  a  kindred 
nature,  distinctly  apprehended  and  firmly  believed, 
take  possession  of  the  whole  man,  and  become  so 
incorporated  with  his  essential  principles  of  feeling 
and  action  that  they  cannot  be  separated.  He  views 
them  in  a  light  very  different  from  that  in  which 
they  present  themselves  to  the  mere  speculative  un- 
derstanding. They  are  not  barren  abstractions,  they 
are  not  cold  deductions  of  reason  which  chill  while 
they  enlighten,  but  warm,  radiant,  living  realities, 
which  seem  to  exist  not  so  much  without  as  within 
him,  and  to  be  parts  of  his  own  breathing  self.  To 
doubt  the  existence  of  a  supreme  and  everywhere- 
present  Spirit,  who  is  before,  and  behind  him,  who 
compasseth  his  lying  down  and  rising  up  ;  to  doubt 
his  perfect  justice,  his  ineffable  purity,  his  boundless 
love  ;  to  doubt  whether  in  Jesus  Christ  he  hath  rec- 
onciled sinners  to  himself,  and  is  preparing  for  all 
who  accept  the  offered  grace,  mansions  in  the  skies, — 
is  to  him  little  more  intelligible  than  to  doubt  of  his 
own  existence.  Hence  that  beautiful  and  most  sig- 
nificant term  by  which  this  perception  is  often  ex- 


28  SERMONS. 

pressed  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  The  saints  are 
said  to  "  see  God."  The  ideas  they  have  of  his  pres- 
ence, power,  goodness,  and  the  various  solemn  and 
tender  relations  he  sustains  to  them,  are  so  lively 
and  beyond  description  impressive,  that  they  may  be 
almost  characterized  as  images  of  sense. 

And  these  are  not  occasional  feelings,  to  which 
they  have  been  wrought  up  by  a  concurrence  of  ex- 
traordinary circumstances.  I  make  this  remark  to 
guard  against  a  dangerous  error  into  which  many 
have  fallen,  the  general  frame  of  whose  mind  is  very 
different  from  that  described,  in  consequence  of  dis- 
covering that  at  certain  periods  of  their  lives,  and  in 
certain  situations,  they  felt  emotions  not  dissimilar. 
The  idea  of  God  is  in  itself  so  grand  and  elevating  a 
thought,  so  calculated  to  rouse  and  absorb  all  the 
faculties  of  the  soul,  that  the  most  carnal  mind,  when 
suitably  prepared  by  a  train  of  incidents,  is  con- 
strained to  feel  and  acknowledge  its  influence.  As 
the  giddy  and  tasteless  traveller,  who  feels  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  sublime  and  beautiful  objects  in  nature, 
but  turns  away  from  them  with  disgust,  sometimes 
stumbles  on  scenes  of  surpassing  grandeur  and  love- 
liness when  in  a  state  of  mind  favorable  to  receive 
an  impression,  and  is  astonished  at  discovering  what 
a  fountain  of  sensibility  has  been  locked  up  in  his 
bosom,  —  so  the  most  thoughtless  man  of  the  world, 
who  can  pass  whole  weeks  without  one  serious  re- 
flection, whose  days  are  spent  in  the  turmoil  of  busi- 
ness, and  nights  in  revelling,  wonders  sometimes  to 
find  himself  led  by  a  sort  of  destiny,  which  he  cannot 
resist,  directly  into  the  presence  of  his  Maker.     The 


SEEM  ON S.  29 

heaven-born  mind,  as  if  conscious  of  the  vile  degra- 
dation to  which  she  has  been  reduced,  and  determined 
for  once  to  assert  her  right,  climbs  up  to  her  native 
quarry,  and  claims  a  brief  communion  with  the 
Parent  from  whom  slie  had  so  long  been  separated. 
Yes,  even  the  besotted  sensualist  is  forced  sometimes 
to  exclaim,  "  There  is  a  God ;  how  great,  how  glo- 
rious is  God !  "  He  feels  himself  at  the  foot  of  his 
throne ;  the  world,  with  all  its  vain  illusions,  disap- 
pears, and  he  surrenders  himself  to  a  train  of  the 
most  profound  and  affecting  contemplations.  These, 
it  is  true,  are  rare  occurrences  in  his  life  ;  and  their 
infrequency  constitutes  a  broad  and  strongly  marked, 
though  by  no  means  the  only,  distinction  between  his 
case  and  that  of  the  truly  religious  man.  The  devo- 
tion of  the  latter  is  no  panic  nor  sudden  paroxism  ; 
but  an  inwrought  habit  of  thinking,  feeling,  and  act- 
ing, in  the  view  of  that  great  Being  whose  transcend- 
ent purity  fills  him  with  adoring  awe,  and  whose 
numberless  acts  of  goodness  he  reciprocates  with 
unceasing  praise. 

I  observe,  further,  that,  in  this  lively  apprehension 
of  God  in  his  various  attributes  and  relations,  there 
is  always  a  specific  personal  appropriation  of  him. 
The  truly  pious  man  is  not  satisfied  with  any  attain- 
ment short  of  the  ability  to  say  "  He  is  mi/  God,  and 
will  be  7ny  guide  even  unto  death."  He  has  taken 
a  close  survey  of  his  miseries  and  needs,  and  the  feel- 
ing of  helplessness  is  too  intense  to  be  allayed  by 
vague  considerations  of  the  divine  all-sufficiency.  As 
the  affectionate  child  regards  his  parent  not  in  the 
light  of  a  parent  in   general,  or  of  the  family  col- 


30  SERMONS. 

lectively,  but  as  his  parent ;  so  the  devout  soul  claims 
for  himself  all  that  God  is,  and  all  that  is  in  God, 
with  the  same  individuality  of  application  that  would 
be  exercised  were  there  no  other  being  in  the  uni- 
verse sustaining  the  same  relation  to  him.  If  any 
are  disposed  to  tax  a  poor,  sinful  worm  with  too 
much  boldness  and  familiarity  in  thus  contemplating 
and  approaching  his  Maker,  I  reply  that  no  undue 
boldness  is  evinced  in  claiming  a  privilege  which  is 
given  him  by  covenant  and  charter.  It  is  a  bold- 
ness which,  in* a  greater  or  less  degree,  all  the  faith- 
ful have.  Witness  such  language  as  this,  which  we 
would  often  find  on  their  lips  if  admitted  to  their 
secret  privacies  :  "  My  Father,  thou  art  the  guide  of 
my  youth.  Because  thou  hast  been  my  help,  there- 
fore in  the  shadow  of  thy  wings  will  I  rejoice.  The 
Lord  is  the  portion  of  my  cup.  Therefore  my  heart 
is  glad  and  my  glory  rejoiceth  ;  my  flesh  also  shall  rest 
in  hope.  Thou  art  my  hope,  0  Lord  God.  Blessed 
be  the  Lord,  my  strength,  my  goodness  and  my  for- 
tress, my  high  tower  and  my  deliverer,  my  shield 
and  he  in  whom  I  trust." 

The  people  that  thus  know  their  God  shall  be 
strong.  Such  a  hearty  recognition  of  the  divine  ex- 
istence and  perfections,  with  the  holy  love,  fear,  and 
confidence  which  are  its  appropriate  fruits,  is  the 
true  source  of  moral  courage,  and  is  particularly 
efficacious  in  those  conjunctures  which  prove  the 
weakness  of  all  other  supports. 

Consider,  in  the  first  place,  the  firmness  which  it 
inspires  under  the  calamities  of  life.  None  of  us 
need  be  reminded  that  these   occur  with   sufficient 


SERMONS.  31 

frequency  to  justify  a  very  diligent  inquiry  into  the 
best  methods  of  bracing  ourselves  against  their  violent 
assault ;  and  it  would  be  unfair  to  deny  that  many, 
unfurnished  with  principles  drawn  from  a  pious  re- 
liance on  God,  exhibit  on  such  occasions  a  considera- 
ble degree  of  fortitude  and  self-command.  There 
are  to  be  found  in  the  world  men  who,  to  judge  from 
their  bold  front  and  lofty  carriage  under  the  most 
terrible  misfortunes,  almost  justify  the  arrogant  blas- 
phemy of  a  sect  of  philosophers,  that  "  the  gods 
themselves  have  no  power  over  a  resolute  spirit." 
Like  certain  sea-birds  described  by  naturalists,  they 
show  the  greatest  alacrity  in  the  greatest  storm. 
The  severest  losses,  as  of  wife,  children,  friends, 
property,  character,  political  standing,  in  quick  suc- 
cession, seem  to  produce  as  little  impression  as  a 
shower  of  stones  from  the  hands  of  children  would 
make  on  the  back  of  a  rhinoceros.  They  fall  only  to 
rise  Avith  fresh  energy,  and  death  may  kill  but  cannot 
conquer  them.  We  have  all  seen,  I  presume,  these 
men  of  iron  in  the  walks  of  life,  and  have  asked  the 
cause  of  their  astonishing  peculiarity  of  character. 
All  that  can  be  said,  perhaps,  in  answer  is,  that  Na- 
ture delights  in  varieties,  and  that,  between  such 
beings  and  men  in  general,  there  are  original  and 
inexplicable  diiferences  of  mental  constitution.  The 
great  majority  of  men  are  formed  in  a  different 
mould.  They  are  sensible  that  affliction  has  power 
over  them  ;  they  tremble  at  its  approach  ;  and,  when 
it  touches  them,  they  bleed  at  every  pore.  What 
sinking  of  the  heart  is  felt  at  losing  an  only  child ! 
How  does  the  strong   man,  who  led   a  host  to   the 


32  SERMONS. 

cannon's  mouth,  writhe  under  the  unutterable  pang 
of  seeing  the  companion  of  his  youth  and  the  solace 
of  his  declining  years  close  for  the  last  time  those 
eyes  which  had  so  often  beamed  on  him  with  affec- 
tion, and  dispelled  the  gathering  darkness  from  his 
brow !  How  tenderly  do  we  sympathize  with  one 
another  on  such  occasions  !  We  feel  that  consolation 
is  needed,  but  hardly  venture  near  to  offer  it ;  for  a 
something  tells  us  that,  were  the  case  our  oivn,  we 
should  be  beyond  the  reach  of  human  sympathy. 

There  are  certain  reflections,  indeed,  which  men 
of  the  world  affect  to  make  on  the  calamities  of  life, 
which  they  imagine  would  not  be  without  their  use, 
if  duly  considered  by  the  sufferer.  They  appeal  to 
his  pride^  insinuating  that  extreme  sorrow  is  a  weak- 
ness of  which  a  man  should  be  ashamed.  They  tell 
him  that  misfortunes  are  the  common  lot  of  humanity^ 
and  that  complaining,  instead  of  bringing  a  cure,  only 
renders  them  more  intolerable.  They  add  that  evils 
are  great  in  the  view  of  the  mind  only  because  they 
are  very  near.  All,  therefore,  he  is  called  to  do,  is 
to  look  forward  a  few  weeks  or  months,  and  imagine 
that  the  interval  is  already  past.  Vain  words,  which 
have  never  stilled  a  throb  nor  dried  a  tear !  "  Sorrow 
is  a  weakness  ;  therefore  dismiss  it."  Ay ;  but  will 
Sorrow  go  ?  Is  Sorrow  conjured  by  such  an  easy 
spell  ?  Let  those  who  have  made  the  experiment  an- 
swer the  question,  and  tell  us  whether  they  have 
found  her  so  accommodating  a  guest.  Pride  and  a 
sense  of  shame,  I  acknowledge,  may  operate  power- 
fully on  many  as  inducements  to  conceal  the  impres- 
sion made  by  grief.     By  a  desperate  effort,  like  that 


SERMONS.  33 

of  some  malefactors  who  have  preserved  their  natural 
expression  when  tortured  on  the  rack,  they  may- 
establish  a  reputation  for  heroic  firmness  and  equa- 
nimity. But  the  disease  rages  within,  and,  driven 
from  the  extremities,  attacks  with  greater  violence 
the  heart.  "  Misfortune,"  continue  our  philosophers, 
"is  the  common  lot  of  man."  Well,  so  it  is;  but 
what  consolation  does  it  give  the  sufferer  that  he  has 
companions  in  misery  ?  Allowing  their  affliction  to 
equal  his,  which,  however,  in  the  paroxysm  of  his 
grief,  he  will  not  be  ready  to  admit, — felt  sorrow 
being  always  greater  than  sorrow  only  imagined,  — 
what  profits  him  this  equality  ?  It  does  not  diminish 
his  loss,  does  not  repair  it,  but  leaves  him  where  it 
found  him,  blasted  and  broken-hearted.  "  Afflictions 
are  necessary  and  unavoidable."  "  Ah,"  says  the 
sufferer,  "  I  knotv  it,  and  for  that  very  reason  I 
mourn.  I  feel  myself  the  victim  of  a  terrible  Des- 
tiny, who  hurries  me  along,  I  know  not  where,  and 
mocks  my  impotent  endeavors  to  escape ;  who  hears 
no  prayers,  and  feels  no  pity."  Equally  futile  is  the 
advice  that  we,  by  an  effort  of  the  imagination,  con- 
ceive ourselves  at  a  distance  from  the  affliction,  and 
attempt  to  look  at  it  as  we  probably  shall  do  after  the 
lapse  of  this  day  twelve-month,  for  example.  As  well 
may  we  be  told  that  we  are  not  ourselves,  but  some 
other  person.  We  have  no  such  power  over  our  im- 
agination. Time  has,  indeed,  a  wonderful  efficacy  in 
assuaging  grief;  and  this  is  a  happy  constitution  for 
which  we  cannot  be  sufficiently  thankful,  as  without 
it  the  most  would  be  doomed  to  pass  their  lives  in 
blank  despair.     But  the  abstract  knowledge  of  this 


34  SERMONS. 

psycliological  truth  allays  not  the  present  anguish. 
The  time  must  actually  elapse.  Day  must  succeed  to 
day,  and  month  to  month,  while  the  healing,  process 
is  going  slowly  on ;  and,  if  a  cure  be  at  last  obtained, 
the  interval  is  as  long  to  him  who  anticipated  such 
an  issue  at  the  commencement,  as  to  him  who  in  his 
ignorance  supposed  that  he  never  would  be  com- 
forted. 

There  is  another  prescription  warmly  recommended 
by  the  worldly  philosopher.  Let  the  sufferer,  after 
the  first  paroxysm  of  grief,  plunge  into  the  noisy 
whirl  of  business  or  amusement : 

"  Quit  the  cypress  groves, 
Nor  to  the  riv'let's  lowly  moanings  tune 
Your  sad  complaint.    Go  seek  the  cheerful  haunts 
Of  men,  and  mingle  with  the  bustling  crowd." 

I  am  far  from  denying  all  virtue  to  this  applauded 
nostrum.  If  the  rude  shock  has  left  sufficient  energy 
to  make  the  experiment  (and  outward  circumstances 
are  not  unfavorable),  the  vigorous  prosecution  of 
worldly  business  will  certainly  blunt  the  sharp  point 
of  affliction,  and  the  melancholy  images  will  gradu- 
ally fade  from  the  mind.  But  its  radical  defect  is, 
that  it  promises  only  a  distant  cure.  Instead  of  ad- 
ministering present  relief,  it  envenoms  the  wound  by 
compelling  the  sufferer  to  assume  an  air  of  calmness 
and  unconcern,  and  to  turn  away  his  thoughts  from 
the  subject  which  engrosses  his  whole  soul.  You 
have  all  felt,  in  seasons  of  calamity,  the  painful 
violence  which  it  cost  you  to  resume  the  ordinary 
occupations  of  life,  and  have  almost  imagined  that 
you  could  still  be  happy  were  you  left  alone  with 


SERMONS.  35 

your  own  sad  thoughts.  Whatever,  then,  be  the 
ultimate  effects  of  this  expedient,  it  brings  too  tardy- 
aid  to  merit  the  high  encomiums  that  have  been 
passed  upon  it.  What  is  more,  its  operation  is 
entirely  mechanical,  infusing  no  principles  of  fortitude 
in  the  soul,  and  teaching  not  to  meet  our  enemy,  but 
to  JIt/  from  him.  The  man,  who  seeks  relief  from 
corroding  reflections  in  the  din  of  secular  employ- 
ment, plainly  shows  a  want  of  internal  supports,  and 
that  he  is  a  coward  in  his  heart. 

But  they  that  know  their  God  shall  be  strong. 
They  have  obtained  views  and  sentiments  which  the 
men  of  this  generation,  though  they  cannot  fully 
appreciate  them,  must  acknowledge  to  be  blessed  in 
their  effects.  How  contemptible,  beyond  expression, 
appear  such  maxims  as  those  we  have  been  consider- 
ing, to  him  who  has  learned  in  the  school  of  Christ 
lessons  like  these  :  "  There  is  a  glorious  Being  at  the 
head  of  the  universe,  infinite  in  wisdom  and  power, 
without  whom  not  a  hair  shall  fall  to  the  ground. 
This  Being  is  my  God,  whose  omnipotence  is  en- 
gaged to  protect,  whose  wisdom  is  engaged  to  guide 
me ;  and  though  he  often  walks  in  a  mysterious  way, 
not  suffering  his  footsteps  to  be  known,  yet  on  his 
great  and  precious  promises  I  lean  with  triumphant 
confidence.  The  afflictions  of  life  are  necessary  expres- 
sions of  his  displeasure  with  my  sins,  but  are  infinitely 
less  than  my  sins  deserve.  The  present  life  is  only  pre- 
paratory to  another,  and  these  afflictions  are  an  impor- 
tant part  of  my  education.  Their  effect  shall  be  cer- 
tainly beneficial,  and  the  recollection  of  them  shall 
sweeten  the  bliss  of  heaven  through  eternity."    Now  I 


36  SERMONS. 

do  not  say  that  principles  and  feelings  like  these  must 
give  the  man  on  whom  they  exercise  their  influence  an 
immense  superiority  over  all  others  in  trying  vicissi- 
tudes. I  affirm,  they  elevate  him  above  all  degrees 
of  comparison^  and  make  him  a  being  of  another 
order.  Misfortune  cannot  affect  him,  for  the  very 
word  is  stricken  from  his  vocabulary.  All  is  ordered^ 
all  is  rights  all  is  beautiful  and  good.  Pain,  disease, 
loss  of  friends,  disappointments  in  business,  shame 
and  ignominy,  are  blessings  not  in  disguise,  but  each 
distinctly  labelled  "  The  Medicine  of  a  Father:'  To 
say  that  in  a  state  of  suffering  the  pious  soul  enjoys 
more  of  the  peaceful  calm  of  godliness  than  in  more 
prosperous  circumstances,  may  seem  foolish  exaggera- 
tion. But  we  seriously  say  it ;  and  without  recurring 
to  the  precious  idea  that  God  will,  at  such  a  season, 
communicate  to  his  child  unusual  supplies  of  grace, 
we  think  the  fact  can  be  explained  on  natural  prin- 
ciples. Affliction  puts  the  pious  soul  on  her  re- 
sources. Knowing  that  her  strength  lies  in  the 
truths  of  the  holy  word,  she  betakes  to  them  with  an 
earnestness  suited  to  the  emergency ;  drinks  large 
draughts  from  the  refreshing  fountain,  and  makes  a 
full  meal  on  the  heavenly  bread.  She  is  soon  and 
amply  rewarded.  Truths  which  before  appeared 
little  interesting,  or  perhaps  were  scarcely  perceived, 
now  stand  out  with  inexpressible  freshness  and  beauty. 
New  views  of  God  and  his  holy  government,  Christ 
and  his  great  salvation,  the  Holy  Spirit  and  his  com- 
forting relations,  crowd  upon  him  ;  possessing,  how- 
ever, a  better  charm  than  novelty,  for  they  bear  the 
stamp  of  that  unerring  word  in  which  he  trusteth. 


SERMONS.  87 

Should  we  be  surprised,  then,  to  find  the  Christian  so 
often  declaring,  not  in  tones  of  Pharisaic  self-applause, 
but  with  the  deepest  humility  and  gratitude  to  God, 
that  he  is  "  exceedingly  joyful  in  all  his  tribulations"? 
Infidels,  and  those  of  an  infidel  spirit,  affect  to  deny 
this  fact,  or  at  least  to  doubt  whether,  if  the  bearing 
of  Christians  in  trouble  were  closely  inspected,  it 
would  be  found  essentially  different  from  that  ot 
others ;  and  thus  all  our  preaching  goes  for  mere 
declamation.  Now  I  am  at  perfect  issue  with  them 
on  this  point,  and  as  it  is  a  question  of  fact  it  may  be 
easily  brought  to  the  test.  I  aver  that  there  are  in 
every  village  and  cluster  of  cottages  in  our  land  some 
whose  conduct  justifies  all  that  has  been  said ;  and  if 
the  persons  with  whom  I  argue  have  not  found,  it  is 
because  they  have  not  sought,  them.  How  can  men 
who  habitually  turn  away  from  scenes  of  sorrow, 
whom  nothing  but  the  last  necessity  compels  to  re- 
main five  minutes  together  in  a  sick-room  of  the 
dying,  who  can  scarcely  bear  to  look  in  the  face  of  an 
unfortunate,  lest  they  catch  his  gloom  and  melan- 
choly,—  how  can  such  judge  of  the  invigorating  efficacy 
of  religion  ?  But  even  could  they  screw  up  their 
courage  to  visit  the  house  of  affliction,  they  might  be 
led  into  erroneous  judgment  by  false  appearances. 
The  pious  are  not  fond  of  rehearsing  their  exercises 
on  the  house-top.  Though  they  take  pleasure  in 
communicating  with  those  who  possess  a  kindred 
spirit,  they  abhor  display  before  the  world^  and  usually 
receive  their  careless  friends  in  silence,  choosing 
rather  to  say  nothing  than  make  an  exhibition,  or 
talk  in  a  dialect  which  they  do  not  understand.     But 

4 


38  SERMONS, 

though  the  lips  move  not,  the  heart  speaketh,  and 
their  joys  are  not  the  less  pure  because  no  stranger 
intermeddleth  with  them. 

II.  Let  us  now  view  this  divine  knowledge  as  in- 
spiring with  moral  vigor  in  the  discharge  of  duty.  I 
believe  it  scarcely  admits  of  dispute  that  not  only  is 
there  an  undue  proportion  of  vice  and  disorder  every- 
where prevalent,  but  that  human  virtue,  unaccom- 
panied with  religion,  is  a  poor  sickly  plant  under  the 
most  favorable  cultivation.  The  great  majority  of 
men  seem  to  live  without  any  fixed  purpose  in  view. 
Placed  here  they  know  not  why,  and  going  they 
know  not  where,  their  only  concern  is  to  spend  the 
few  years  they  are  destined  to  continue  in  the  world 
as  free  from  molestation  as  they  can.  To  possess  a 
certain  measure  of  what  they  call  the  good  things  of 
life,  to  enjoy  intercourse  with  a  few  friends,  to  raise 
four  or  five  children,  and  finally  to  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  dying  in  a  well-furnished  room  in  the  midst 
of  their  family,  seems  to  bound  their  wishes  and 
their  hopes.  On  this  weak  and  narrow  foundation  is 
built  the  whole  system  of  their  acknowledged  duty. 
Obey  the  laws  of  your  country  ;  if  necessary,  fight  in 
its  defence  ;  abstain  from  injuring  others,  that  they 
may  abstain  from  injuring  you ;  and  occasionally 
render  them  assistance,  that  you  may  in  turn  receive 
it,  is  a  complete  answer  to  every  question  that  can 
arise  concerning  conduct.  Exceptions  to  this  remark 
are  more  apparent  than  real.  How  few  of  those 
splendid  exhibitions  of  magnanimity,  love  of  right, 
and  indignation  at  oppression,  which  grace  the  his- 
toric  page,  would,  if  fairly  analyzed,  be   found  to 


SERMONS,  39 

spring  from  any  nobler  principle  than  the  sordid  love 
of  self.  Let  us  not  wonder  at  this  dearth  of  high 
virtue  and  lofty  aim  among  creatures  from  whom 
great  things  might  be  expected.  Let  us  not  wonder 
that  a  refined  Epicureanism  has  spread  its  chilling 
blight  over  the  whole  surface  of  society,  killing  every 
noble  plant,  and  sparing  only  noisome  and  unprofita- 
ble weeds.  The  world  has  forgotten  its  God,  and  the 
curse  of  barrenness  is  upon  it.  How  can  it  be  other- 
wise ?  Can  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of 
thistles  ?  Can  we  expect  that,  without  any  rational 
motive  to  impel,  or  object  to  gain,  such  imperfect 
creatures  as  we  are  should  seriously  attempt  to  regu- 
late our  lives  by  a  mysterious,  abstract  idea  of  per- 
fection, —  a  perfection  which  will  profit  us  nothing, 
and  which  requires  self-denials,  toils,  watchings,  and 
many  painful  sacrifices?  Why  should  we  abridge 
the  few  comforts  that  are  attainable  during  our  short 
pilgrimage  ?  why  cast  away  the  only  happiness  within 
our  reach,  at  the  command  of  a  metaphysical  phan- 
tom ?  "  Right,  virtue,  moral  beauty,  eternal  fitness,  — 
ye  are  all  high-sounding  words  of  emptiness.  There  is 
but  one  law  of  action,  to  which  the  whole  universe  is 
submissive.  Preserve  yourselves,  and  live  while  you 
live  I"  I  do  not  say  that  this  is  the  general  language 
of  men.  But  it  is  their  real,  practical  sentiment. 
And  this  is  the  cause  of  that  deplorable  weakness  of 
human  virtue,  —  that  impotence  to  good,  combined, 
alas !  too  often,  with  a  gigantic  power  of  evil,  —  so 
much  lamented  by  the  moralist.  Men  transgress  the 
law  of  their  nature,  because,  in  their  heart,  they 
acknowledge  no  law  but  conveniency ;  yield  readily 


40  SERMONS. 

to  seduction,  because  resistance  will  cost  sacrifices  of 
present  ease  ;  and  refuse  to  engage  in  hazardous  and 
difficult  duties ;  asking,  in  surprise  at  our  demand, 
why  tliey  should  expose  themselves  ? 

From  this  moral  prostration  there  is  no  recovery ; 
for  this  torpor  of  the  soul's  best  and  highest  faculty 
there  is  no  cure,  except  bringing  back  God's  wander- 
ing creature  to  himself,  its  Creator.  But  this  is  an 
effectual  remedy.  The  knowledge  of  God  supplies 
exactly  what  is  wanting  to  inspire  man  with  great 
thoughts,  and  urge  him  on  to  high  enterprise.  It 
puts  scorn  on  the  miserable  idea  that  he  is  here  by 
chance  or  fate,  and  for  a  purpose  he  knows  not  what. 
It  tells  him  that  he  is  a  favorite  subject  of  the  dread 
Monarch  of  all  worlds.  It  puts  into  his  hands  a  holy 
and  righteous  law,  by  obedience  to  which  God  will  be 
glorified,  and  his  own  best  and  eternal  interests 
secured.  It  tells  him  that  he  has  a  part  to  act,  a 
career  to  run,  a  destiny  to  fulfil ;  that  superior  beings 
feel  an  interest  in  his  success,  and  that  the  divine 
Saviour  who  died  for  him  is  anxiously  watching  his 
progress,  and  praying  that  his  faith  fail  not.  It  tells 
him  that,  beside  the  internal  conflict  with  sin  in  his 
heart,  there  is  a  battle  to  be  fought  with  the  enemies 
of  righteousness  in  the  world  ;  and  all  this  it  en- 
forces by  pointing  to  the  great  white  throne  and  Him 
who  sits  thereon,  from  whose  face  the  heavens  ^nd 
the  earth  flee  away. 

It  would  be  insulting  the  weakest  understanding  in 
this  assembly  to  ask  whether  there  be  not  an  invigo- 
rating virtue  in  principles  like  these  honestly  and 
cordially  embraced.     The  moment  a  man  has  felt 


SERMONS.  41 

their  power,  he  is  prepared  for  everything.  The  sub- 
lime conception  of  being  an  agent  of  the  God  of 
heaven  and  earth,  of  his  actions  having  such  im- 
portance as  to  interest  all  heaven  and  deserve  everlast- 
ing retributions  ;  this  alone,  and  unaccompanied  with 
any  other  considerations,  must  invest  him,  in  relation 
to  other  men,  with  attributes  of  a  superior  being. 
Thus  there  is  implanted  in  his  soul  a  strong,  stubborn, 
unconquerable  sense  of  obligation,  which  he  follows 
wherever  it  leads.  He  can  deprive  himself  of  the 
most  agreeable  amusements  ;  engage  in  the  most  har- 
assing and  vexatious  employments ;  separate  from 
friends  dear  to  him  as  his  life,  never  to  see  them  more  ; 
pitch  his  tent  with  savages  among  Arctic  snows  ;  nay, 
offer  up  his  body  to  be  burned  on  the  first  conviction 
he  is  made  to  feel  that  it  is  right.  If  it  be  right  to 
resist  an  oppressive  government,  he  resists,  though  he 
finds  himself  alone.  If  it  be  right  to  submit,  he  lays 
his  head  at  the  foot  of  the  most  contemptible  minion 
of  despotism.  If  it  be  right  to  escape  from  danger, 
he  runs  backward ;  if  it  be  right  to  expose  himself, 
he  runs  forward.  "  He  knows  how  to  be  abased  and 
how  to  abound  ;  everywhere  and  in  all  things  he  is  in- 
structed both  to  be  full  and  to  be  hungry,  both  to 
abound  and  suffer  need."  Is  he  then  a  block,  des- 
titute of  all  sensibility  to  those  evils  which  so  power- 
fully affect  other  men  ?  Far  from  it ;  but  there  is  a 
principle  within  him  superior  to  mere  sensibility,  or, 
to  speak  more  properly,  weaker  emotions  are,  accord- 
ing to  a  well  known  law  of  our  nature,  absorbed  in 
stronger,  and  the  high  tension  of  his  noble  faculties, 
produced  by  the  all-engrossing  thought  of  responsi- 

4* 


42  SERMONS. 

bility  to  his  God,  suffers  him  not  to  feel  what  other- 
wise he  would  be  utterly  unable  to  bear. 

This  fully  explains  the  maxim  that  religion  is  a 
tamer  of  the  passions  ;  it  truly  is  so,  and  to  a  degree 
of  which  the  strangers  to  its  power  have  no  concep- 
tions. But  it  does  not  exterminate,  nor  even  weaken 
them.  It  only  enthrones  in  the  heart  one  great  mas- 
ter-passion to  which  the  others  yield  implicit  subjec- 
tion, their  action  not  enfeebled,  but  turned  into  a 
different  channel.  Sensual  desires  cease  to  be  sen- 
sual, and  become  ardent  aspirations  after  spiritual 
pleasures.  Anger  and  revenge  vent  themselves  in 
holy  indignation  against  sin ;  covetousness  grasps  at 
treasures  which  neither  "  moth  nor  rust  doth  cor- 
rupt ; "  and  ambition,  its  eagle  eye  purified  of  those 
morbid  humors  which  disabled  it  from  seeing  the 
vanity  of  the  miserable  baubles  which  men  call 
honors,  looks  forward  and  sees  thrones  and  sceptres 
in  the  skies.  Thus  temptation  loses  in  a  great  degree 
its  power,  finding  armed  against  it  not  only  reason 
and  the  conscience^  but  the  tastes  and  inclinations^  — 
all  those  impulses  which,  whether  turned  to  good  or 
evil,  rule  the  man  with  unlimited  sway.  The  objects 
which  are  ordinarily  so  efficacious  in  seducing  men 
from  their  integrity,  "  the  fading  echoes  of  renown, 
power's  purple  robes,  and  pleasure's  flowery  lap,"  ex- 
ercise no  attractions  on  a  subject  that  is  already 
under  more  powerful  attractions. 

I  well  know  how  apt  men  are  to  discredit  repre- 
sentations of  character  not  supported  by  anything  in 
their  own  experience.  "  Poh  !  there  are  no  such  men 
in  the  world,"  declares  the  infidel,  with  many  who 


SEE^IONS.  43 

think  themselves  not  infidels.  But  I  aver  that  there 
are  many  such  men ;  and  if  he  who  denies  the  fact 
would  take  as  much  interest  in  reading  the  religious 
history  of  the  world,  as  details  of  murderous  battles 
and  political  revolutions,  he  would  not  need  any 
proof  upon  the  subject.  Nay,  if  he  would  only  take 
the  trouble  of  carefully  noting  the  characters  and 
conduct  of  many  within  his  own  observation,  he  would 
acknowledge  that  there  is  in  this  thing  called  re- 
ligion a  sublime  and  almost  fearful  energy.  Look  at 
the  first  Christians,—  a  poor,  ignorant,  despised  hand- 
ful of  carpenters,  tax-gatherers,  and  fishermen,  —  who 
previous  to  their  coming  under  the  influence  of  evan- 
gelic truth,  seemed  wanting  in  ordinary  and  what  we 
might  call  decent  firmness,  —  who,  so  far  from  playing 
the  desperado,  almost  invariably  forsook  their  Master 
in  the  hour  of  danger,  and  in  his  last  trials  actually 
fled.  But  what  a  change  was  wrought  on  that  mem- 
orable day,  when  the  Spirit,  coming  down  from  on 
high,  scattered  the  cloud  which  until  now  had  rested 
on  their  minds,  and  gave  them  fully  to  know  the  mys- 
teries of  his  kingdom !  I  take  a  single  individual  of 
the  company,  —  that  trembling  coward,  who,  a  month 
before,  three  times  denied  his  Master,  asserting,  with 
oaths  and  execrations,  that  he  knew  not  the  man.  I 
now  see  him  standing  like  a  superior  being  in  the 
midst  of  the  very  multitude  who  had  crucified  his 
Lord,  charging  them  with  the  foul  crime  of  denying 
the  Holy  One  and  the  Just ;  asserting  that  God  had 
raised  him  from  the  dead,  of  which  he  was  a  witness ; 
warning  them  to  repent  and  be  converted,  that  their 
sins  might  be  blotted  out,  and  declaring  that  every 


44  SERMONS. 

soul  who    lieareth   not  this   great  prophet   shall  be 
blotted  out  from  among  the  people. 

Such  instances  show  what  our  holy  religion  can  do 
for  its  disciples,  and  present  a  scene  full  of  tremen- 
dous sublimity.  So  its  enemies  felt  with  an  intensity 
they  could  not  conceal.  They  saw  that  it  was 
stronger  than  death,  and  that  he  spoke  the  simple 
truth  who  said  to  them,  "  We  can  as  cheerfully  lay 
down  our  lives  for  our  religion,  as  the  hardiest  phi- 
losopher of  you  all  can  put  off  his  coat."  This  myste- 
rious force,  this  proud,  unconquerable  will,  as  their 
enemies  called  it,  to- which  nothing  was  found  respon- 
sive in  their  own  bosoms,  filled  them  with  a  secret 
horror,  and  they  trembled  before  their  victims. 
Meanwhile  the  servants  of  God  went  headlong  on, 
preaching  and  praying,  suffering  and  dying,  until  the 
powers  of  darkness  were  fairly  driven  from  the  field, 
and  Paganism  sunk  in  the  grave  which  she  had 
digged  for  her  indomitable  rival.  Look  at  the  heroes 
of  the  Reformation,  and  ask,  if  you  dare,  whether 
there  be  a  moral  energy  in  religious  truth.  The 
language  which  dropped  from  the  lips  of  Luther,  on 
a  memorable  occasion  when  called  to  appear  at  peril 
of  his  life  and  testify  before  kings  and  emperors, 
was  his  own  ;  but  the  glorious  spirit  which  it  breathed 
was  only  common  to  him  with  a  thousand  and  one : 
"  Were  I  obliged  to  encounter  at  Worms  as  many 
devils  as  there  are  tiles  on  the  houses  of  that  city, 
this  would  not  deter  me  from  appearing  there."  Look 
at  the  Puritans  of  England,  those  stern  and  unre- 
lenting foes  of  arbitrary  power,  because  it  dared  to 
bind  laws  on   the  conscience ;  who   could  die,  but 


SEE310NS.  45 

could  not  yield ;  and  the  oppressed  remnant  of  whom 
left  with  cheerfulness  their  native  land  to  bury  them- 
selves in  an  inhospitable  wilderness,  where  their  God 
could  be  worshipped  at  pure  altars  and  with  pure 
offerings. 

Might  we  not  take  higher  ground  ?  Were  we  to 
assert  that  scarcely  a  revolution  of  importance  is  re- 
corded on  the  page  of  history  which  did  not  spring 
directly  from  the  impulses  of  religion  ;  that  there  is 
scarcely  a  nation  but  owes  its  character,  extent, 
manners,  and  very  existence  to  this  powerful  agent, 
would  any  venture  to  contradict  me  ?  Too  often,  in- 
deed, has  its  might  been  unhappily  directed,  and 
terrible  devastation  has  ensued.  Too  often  has  the  fire 
of  heaven  been  mixed  with  the  strange  fire  of  human 
passion,  and  the  heterogeneous  compound  has  pro- 
duced explosions  which  have  shaken  kingdoms  to 
their  centre. 

But,  while  I  grant  this,  I  demand,  in  turn,  the  con- 
cession that  the  true  and  pure  knowledge  of  God  is 
no  way  accountable  for  such  disorders.  Let  us  not 
suffer  ourselves  to  doubt  that  under  wise  direction 
it  is  the  most  safe,  as  well  as  potent  of  all  engines  for 
meliorating  and  exalting  the  condition  of  men. 
Christians  know  more  than  this.  They  know  that  it 
is  destined  to  revolutionize  the  world  and  restore  it 
to  more  than  paradisiac  innocence  and  beauty. 

In  their  present  efforts  to  accomplish  this  blessed 
consummation,  we  perceive  another  and  most  illustri- 
ous proof  of  the  moral  efficacy  of  our  holy  faith. 
Scarcely  in  the  days  of  the  apostles  and  primitive 
martyrs,  and  certainly  at  no  time  since,  does  my 


46  SERMONS. 

text  seem  to  have  received  a  more  striking  commen- 
tary. A  few  years  ago  the  opinion  began  to  excite  at- 
tention and  obtain  general  currency,  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  Christians  to  evangelize  the  world ;  and  stu- 
pendous as  is  the  enterprise,  ridiculous  as  it  may  ap- 
pear in  the  eye  of  reason,  —  enlightened  by  faith,  they 
have  actually,  under  the  promptings  of  that  stern  sense 
of  obligation  which  I  have  illustrated,  girded  up  their 
loins  to  the  work.  Already  so  much  has  been  done 
that  the  infidel  dare  no  longer  sport  his  horse- 
laugh ;  and  though  he  still  speaks  sarcastically  of 
these  strange,  sanguine  men,  who  intend  converting 
the  nations  by  missionaries  and  Bibles ;  yet  we  sus- 
pect he  is  beginning  to  wonder  with  some  mixture  of 
awe  at  their  stubborn  fixedness  of  purpose,  and  even 
to  suspect  that  they  may  finally  attain  their  object. 
Here  he  is  right.  The  object  shall  be  attained.  The 
work  is  of  God,  and  his  people  have  entered  upon  it 
with  an  intensity  of  spirit  which  proves  that  no  oppo- 
sition shall  prevail  against  it.  The  genius  of  Chris- 
tianity hath  risen  from  the  dust,  and  shaken  off  the 
dews  of  the  night  from  his  locks.  He  is  marching 
over  mountain  and  flood,  the  olive-branch  in  his 
hand ;  his  paths  dropping  fatness  on  the  pastures  of 
the  wilderness ;  springs  of  water  gushing  out  from 
beneath  his  feet,  and  the  little  hills  rejoicing  on  every 
side.  The  great  ones  of  the  earth  may  combine  to 
arrest  his  progress,  but  in  vain.  The  powers  of  dark- 
ness, repeatedly  discomfited  in  times  past,  shall 
suffer  a  more  complete  overthrow,  and  from  the  ris- 
ing of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  of  the  same,  the 
Lord   shall  be   great  among  the   Gentiles,  for  the 


SEE3I0NS.  47 

mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it.  "  Great  is  the 
truth  ;  and  it  shall  prevail."  It  is  stronger  than  all 
things:  "all  the  earth,"  —  to  use  the  beautiful  lan- 
guage of  an  apocryphal  writer,  —  "  calleth  upon  it  and 
heaven  blesseth  it;  all  works  shake  and  tremble  at 
it,  and  with  it  is  no  unrighteous  thing.  Wine  is 
wicked  ;  the  king  is  wicked ;  women  are  wicked ;  all 
the  children  of  men  are  wicked,  and  there  is  no  truth 
in  them;  in  their  unrighteousness  also  they  shall 
perish.  As  for  truth,  it  endures  and  is  always  strong, 
it  liveth  and  conquereth  forever  more.  She  doeth 
the  things  that  are  just,  and  refraineth  from  all 
unjust  and  wicked  things,  and  all  men  do  well  like  of 
her  works,  and  she  is  the  strength,  kingdom,  power, 
and  majesty  of  all  ages.    Blessed  be  the  God  of  truth." 

I  conclude  with  addressing  a  few  remarks  to  the 
two  different  classes  of  which  my  audience  is  com- 
posed. 

There  are  doubtless  some  present  who  can  bear 
practical  testimony  that  I  have  not  been  reciting  a 
cunningly  devised  fable.  There  are  some  who  have 
felt  the  value  and  divine  efficacy  of  the  knowledge  of 
God  in  various  trying  situations,  —  in  deep  affliction, 
in  sore  temptation,  and  in  what  at  the  time  they 
deemed  mortal  sickness.  In  no  emergency  has  it 
failed  you.  Christians,  when  its  assistance  was  so- 
licited. It  was  a  friend  when  no  other  friend  was 
near,  guiding  you  through  many  a  perplexing  laby- 
rinth, warning  against  the  snares  laid  for  your  in- 
tegrity, and  whispering  hope  when,  to  all  outward 
appearance,  hope  was  clean  gone  forever.  While  you 
think  of  this,  and  your  hearts  swell  with  gratitude  to 


48  ,  SERMONS. 

God  for  the  bestowment  of  so  invigorating  and  cheer- 
ing a  companion,  I  beseech  you  to  hold  fast  to  it, 
and  not  to  let  it  go.  Cnltivate  with  increasing 
zeal  and  devotion  this  most  blessed  of  all  sciences. 
The  acquisition,  as  you  know,  is  easily  made,  re- 
quiring no  intricate  calculations,  nor  toilsome  and 
hazardous  experiments.  It  is  cheaply  made.  In 
one  little  book  are  contained  all  your  treasures,  and 
they  are  there  so  admirably  disposed,  unfolded  with 
such  happy  perspicuity,  that  a  child  can  draw  them 
forth  and  put  them  to  practical  use.  Believe  me,  if 
you  apply  yourselves  faitlifully  to  the  study  I  am 
recommending,  you  will  be  repaid  with  usury  as  you 
advance.  Your  bread  shall  not  be  cast  upon  the 
waters,  to  be  found  after  many  days,  but  shall  return 
immediately  in  enriching  blessing.  The  time  may 
be  at  hand  when  you  shall  feel  the  need  of  all  your 
spiritual  resources.  There  may  be  conflicts  to  en- 
dure, which  you  cannot  at  present  imagine,  and 
compared  with  which  all  your  past  trials  will  sink 
into  utter  insignificance.  Prepare  for  such  an  hour  ! 
You  who  have  not  the  knowledge  of  God,  I  would 
affectionately  exhort  to  consider  what  has  been  said, 
with  attention  and  candor.  I  cannot  but  think  that 
your  hearts  have  acknowledged  the  truth  of  our 
statements.  Yes,  you  acknowledge,  for  you  cannot 
deny,  that  the  sincere  and  honest  Christian  has  infi- 
nite advantages  over  you.  Already,  and  more  than 
once,  have  your  principles  failed  at  the  time  when 
their  support  was  most  needed ;  and  what  can  you 
hope  in  the  future  but  similar  disappointments  ?  You 
have  not  yet  weathered  all  the  gales  of  life.     Perhaps 


SERMONS.  49 

the  heaviest  is  to  come.  Why  do  I  say  perhaps, 
when  I  know  that  you  must  die  ?  "  If  thou  hast  run 
with  the  footmen  and  they  have  wearied  thee,  how 
canst  thou  contend  with  horses  ?  And  if  in  the  land  of 
peace,  wherein  thou  trustedst,  they  wearied  thee,  how 
wilt  thou  do  in  the  swelling  of  Jordan  ? "  Alas ! 
Man  is  weak,  and  God  alone  is  strong.  Make  your- 
selves, then,  acquainted  with  this  great  Being  while 
the  opportunity  is  offered.  Lay  hold  of  his  strength, 
and  be  at  peace  with  him. 


God  neither  Tempts,  nor  is  Tempted. 


III. 

GOD  NEITHER    TEMPTS,  NOR    IS 
TEMPTED. 


James  1  :  13.     ^^t  no  man  sag  fobcn  \z  is  temgtjb,  |  am  tcmplEb  of  Sob. 


HE  facility  with  which  men  violate  the  laws 
of  God,  against  the  clear  light  of  his  holj 
Word,  is  very  remarkable,  but  not  more  so 
J  than  the  dexterity  they  evince  in  concealing 
from  their  own  hearts  the  turpitude  of  their  conduct. 
A  man  giving  himself  up  to  vicious  indulgence  sel- 
dom fails  to  bring  over  his  understanding  to  the  side 
of  his  lusts,  whether  the  gratification  be  great  or 
small, — catching  flies  or  a  midnight  murder.  How 
easy,  for  example,  does  he  find  it  to  consider  his  sins 
as  misfortunes  rather  than  crimes,  deserving  com- 
miseration instead  of  punishment!  How  easy  to 
transfer  the  blame  from  himself  to  another !  Nay,  he 
sometimes,  with  a  horrid  arrogance,  raises  his  puny 
arm  against  the  heavens,  —  scornfully  retorting  the 
charge  of  criminality,  and  impeaching  God  as  the 
author  of  the  very  ills  on  which  he  has  denounced 
his  malediction. 

A  tendency  to  this  vilest  of  all  heresies  made  its 
appearance  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  which  gave 
occasion  to  the  remonstrance  of  St.  James  in  the  text : 
"  Let  no  man  say  when  he  is  tempted,  I  am  tempted 


54  SERMONS. 

of  God."  Mark  the  energy  with  which  he  rebukes  the 
sentiment:  ''Let  no  man.''^  —  Let  it  not  enter  the 
heart  nor  escape  the  lips.  It  is  an  insult  to  the  perfec- 
tions, a  deadly  blow  at  the  existence,  of  the  holy  and 
supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe.  This  is  the  doctrine 
which  shall  now  engage  our  attention,  and  I  shall 
not  insult  your  understanding  by  dwelling  on  its 
great  importance.  When  firmly  established  in  the 
mind,  it  will  prove  the  strongest  inducement  to  holi- 
ness and  the  most  effectual  antidote  to  the  love  of 
sin.  Besides,  to  believe  that  God  has  no  participa- 
tion in  our  crimes  is  to  feel  our  own  inexcusahleness  ; 
and  this  is  a  lesson  which  must  be  learned.  "  Every 
mouth  must  be  stopped,"  etc.  Without  it  we  are 
altogether  unprepared  to  receive  the  transcendent 
gift  of  redemption  through  his  dear  Son. 

Before  enforcing  the  thought  of  the  apostle,  let 
me  briefly  show  that  such  an  exhortation  is  needed, 
—  that  the  disposition  to  charge  blameworthiness  on 
God  exists  and  betrays  itself  frequently  where  it  is 
not  suspected.  It  will  thus  appear  that  we  are  not 
attacking  a  phantom  or  man  of  straw,  but  a  real 
and  tangible  evil. 

That  men  are  prone  to  charge  God  with  an  im- 
proper agency  in  sin  clearly  appears  from  the  light 
thoughts  they  entertain  of  the  evil  of  sin.  It  is  very 
evident  that  their  conceptions  of  its  turpitude  are  in 
general  low  and  inadequate.  They  think  it  a  small 
matter,  and  that  which  strikes  them  as  the  greatest 
paradox  in  the  Bible  is  its  stern  denunciation  of 
endless  wrath  on  every  soul  that  doeth  evil.  How  is 
this  propensity  to  think   hghtly  of  the   greatest  of 


SERMONS.  55 

curses  to  be  explained  ?  These  men  have  no  such 
contemptuous  ideas  of  sins  against  civil  society,  as 
murder  and  rebellion.  Why,  then,  should  they 
imagine  that  transgression  loses  all  its  venom  the 
moment  we  view  it  as  committed  against  the  greatest 
and  most  exalted  of  Beings  ?  The  fact  is,  they  more 
than  suspect  that  Crod  himself  is  the  Tempter.  Could 
they  be  convinced  that  he  is  infinitely  removed  from 
aiding  and  abetting  their  crimes,  they  would  see  the 
force  of  the  terrible  delineations  of  their  turpitude 
contained  in  the  sacred  record.  But,  secretly  cher- 
ishing the  idea  of  his  virtual  cooperation,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  they  find  a  difficulty  in  believing  it  to 
be  the  object  of  his  abhorrence. 

The  fact  under'  notice  is  proved  by  another  reign- 
ing disposition  of  men,  —  their  propensity  to  blame 
God  for  their  afflictions.  The  true  cause  of  all  suffer- 
ing is  sin.  Sin  is  violation  of  the  law  of  God.  Now, 
were  transgressors  fully  convinced  that  the  purity  of 
the  Deity  startles  from  everything  like  abetting  re- 
bellion against  his  own  authority,  they  would  see  in 
the  severest  of  their  sufferings  nothing  more  than  a 
righteous  retribution.  It  is  the  thought  that  God  is 
the  cause  of  sin  which  makes  them  repine  at  his 
being  the  cause  of  suffering.  They  view  him  as 
they  are  taught  to  view  the  devil,  —  as  first  tempting 
them  to  transgression,  and  then  taking  pleasure  in 
inflicting  pain  on  account  of  it.  Hence  their  fret- 
fulness  and  rage  under  trial.  Hence  their  daring 
and  almost  blasphemous  challenges  of  the  Deity : 
"  Why  hast  thou  dealt  with  me  thus  ?  " 

But,  to  settle  the  matter  at  once,  I  appeal  to  Qon- 


56  SERMONS. 

science.  Are  there  not  many  within  the  sound  of 
my  voice  who  must  acknowledge  that  their  hearts 
cherish  the  unworthy  conception  rebuked  in  my 
text  ?  What  mean  all  those  apologies  and  explana- 
tions which  are  so  often  found  on  their  lips  ?  This 
man  pleads  in  self-vindication  the  force  of  his  pas- 
sions. He  was  born  with  such  impetuous  desires 
that,  poor,  unfortunate  creature  as  he  is,  he  cannot 
resist  them.  Another  explains  his  misconduct  by  his 
circumstances  in  life,  well  remembering  (for  this  is 
the  essence  of  his  plea)  that  Gf-od  only  orders  the  lot. 
A  third  talks  of  the  attractiveness  of  the  forbidden 
object,  leaving  us  to  answer  the  question  ourselves. 
Who  gave  it  its  seductive  charms  ?  Our  bountiful 
Parent  has  stored  the  world  with  blessing.  He  has 
commanded  his  sun  to  shine,  given  fragrance  to  the 
rose,  carpeted  the  earth  with  verdure,  and  made  the 
very  food  we  eat  a  medium  of  pleasure.  His  un- 
grateful child  professes  that  this  exuberance  of  good- 
ness has  spoiled  him ;  more  than  insinuating  that  if 
he  had  been  placed  in  a  wilderness  or  dungeon  he 
would  have  proved  a  much  better  and  more  estima- 
ble character.  Is  it  not  so  ?  I  ask  you  to  investigate 
the  point  each  for  yourselves.  You  may  be  making 
this  foul  charge,  though  not  aware  of  it.  It  is  a 
solemn  truth  that  men  do  not  know  their  own  malig- 
nity nor  the  dreadful  workings  of  depravity  within, 
until  the  declarations  of  the  word  of  God  force  them 
to  rigid  self-examination. 

We  proceed  now  to  establish  the  doctrine  of  the 
text,  "  Let  no  man  say  he  is  tempted  of  God."  And 
we  shall  do  it  by  a  threefold  appeal  to  his  character, 


SER3fONS.  57 

his  laws,  and  the  powerful  motives  hy  which  he  has 
enforced  obedience. 

In  every  trial  between  man  and  man,  it  is  usual  to 
attach  very  considerable  importance  to  the  character 
of  the  parties.  If  the  person  accused  has  hitherto 
sustained  the  reputation  of  an  innocent  and  honest 
man,  a  presumption  exists  in  his  favor  of  no  trifling 
weight.  If,  besides,  he  has  long  been  illustrious  for 
dignity,  talent,  and  high  moral  worth,  the  first  among 
the  first  in  every  honorable  enterprise,  so  that  when 
the  eye  sees  him  it  blesses  him,  and  the  widow's 
heart  sings  for  joy,  what  a  noble  field  of  defence 
opens  up  before  an  eloquent  and  able  advocate  !  If 
it  appears,  also,  on  proof,  that  his  accusers  are  mean 
and  profligate  wretches,  who,  at  war  with  virtue,  are 
discharging  their  venom  on  one  of  its  most  distinguished 
living  examples,  actuated  by  sheer  malice  and  the  de- 
sire to  obtain  unlimited  license  for  their  own  abomina- 
tions, would  anything  be  wanting  to  complete  his 
vindication,  and  overwhelm  with  scorn  the  ruffian 
conspirators  against  his  spotless  fame  ? 

Now,  let  us  apply  these  analogies  to  the  case  before 
us.  We  are  engaged  in  trying  an  accusation  of  the 
great  Glod  by  sinners.  The  characters  of  both  are  fully 
delineated  in  the  oracles  of  truth.  It  is  established,  in 
the  first  place,  that  the  former  is  the  High  and  Holy 
One  who  inhabits  eternity,  of  a  purity  so  bright  that 
the  "  heavens  are  unclean  in  his  sight,  and  his  angels 
are  charged  with  folly."  Arrayed  as  he  is  with  in- 
finite wisdom  and  power,  his  holiness  is  his  favorite 
attribute,  the  very  diadem  of  his  glory.  Reason 
itself  attests  this  truth.     As  the  idea  of  a  Supreme 


68  SEUMONS. 

and  Eternal  Being  seems  to  be  a  part  of  the  mind 
itself  necessarily  evolved  in  the  gradual  development 
of  its  faculties,  so  perfect,  unspotted  rectitude  seems 
an  essential  part  of  that  idea.  We  cannot  separate 
it  from  the  notion  and  definition  of  a  God  for  a  single 
moment.  Conceive,  if  you  can,  of  a  malevolent, 
cruel,  treacherous  Deity,  and,  you  will  next  be  able 
to  conceive  of  luminous  darkness,  unextended  space, 
a  three-sided  circle,  or  any  other  palpable  contradic- 
tion. Such  a  sentiment  is  a  pitch  of  extravagance 
far  beyond  Atheism,  for  though  men  may  be  found  who 
deny  the  existence  of  a  Creator,  they  will  cheerfully 
concede  that,  the  point  of  his  existence  being  demon- 
strated, he  is  a  Being  necessarily  and  infinitely 
perfect.  "  If  there  is  a  Power  above  us  (Atheism 
itself  acknowledges),  he  must  delight  in  virtue.^^ 

This,  then,  is  the  established,  the  conceded  fact ; 
and  on  it  we  build  our  plea  for  the  injustice  of  all 
those  insinuations  which  represent  him  as  tampering 
with  the  sinner  in  his  trespasses.  Can  the  same  foun- 
tain send  forth  sweet  waters  and  bitter  ?  We  may 
find  ourselves  embarrassed  in  explaining  many  parts 
of  his  conduct.  We  know  that  he  did  not  prevent 
the  entrance  of  sin  ;  we  know  that  he  still  permits  it. 
These  difficulties  might  have  weight,  had  we  not  cer- 
tain evidence  of  character,  that  sin  is  in  diametrical 
opposition  to  his  essential  nature.  This  being  so, 
we  must  cast  doubt  to  the  winds,  and  believe  that 
all  the  intricacies  of  his  procedure  are  perfectly  con- 
sistent with  the  most  amiable  goodness,  the  most 
untainted  righteousness.  What  would  become  of 
the  most  exalted  innocence   among  men,  if  every 


SERMONS.  59 

slight  appearance  was  tortured  into  an  argument  of 
guilt  ? 

There  is  another  consideration  well  worthy  of 
notice.  It  is  the  dictate  both  of  reason  and  revela- 
tion, that  the  Deity  is  happy  in  and  of  himself.  He 
cannot,  therefore,  propose  any  profit  by  going  out  of 
his  own  natural  character,  and  inducing  his  creature 
to  violate  the  rule  of  righteousness.  Is  it  for  his 
interests  that  his  attributes  be  exposed  to  foul  dis- 
honor ;  that  the  harmony  of  his  government  be  dis- 
turbed ;  that  his  creatures,  whom  he  formed  for  him- 
self, should  raise  the  standard  of  opposition,  and 
overspread  his  fair  domain  with  treason,  anarchy, 
and  blood  ?  Let  these  considerations  be  put  against 
all  those  false  and  delusive  colorings  which  a  corrupt 
imagination  delights  to  throw  around  his  conduct. 

Let  us  next  inquire,  who  are  the  accusers  ?  Our  sin- 
ful hearts.  And  have  not  these  been  long  known  as 
interested,  unprincipled  impostors,  ever  ready  to  call 
things  by  false  names  ?  Do  they  not  lie  and  mislead 
us  every  hour  in  matters  of  the  smallest  and  greatest 
moment  ?  Mark  with  what  dexterity  the  vilest 
criminal  on  earth  takes  hold  of  everything  in  his 
favor ;  and  how,  even  after  receiving  the  sentence  of 
the  law,  its  justice  approved  by  all  who  hear  it,  he 
pleads  his  innocence  as  if  he  were  certainly  in  the 
right,  and  the  whole  world  was  certainly  in  the 
wrong.  Let  us  remember  that  the  heart  of  every 
sinner  has  a  deep  mterest  in  making  out  the  charge 
that  God  is  the  tempter.  It  is  well  aware  that  if 
success  crowned  the  attempt  there  would  be  an  end 
of  responsibility,  an  end  of  crime,  an  end  of  punish- 


60  SERMONS. 

ment ;  that  full  license  would  be  given  to  riot  in  all 
that  is  unholy  and  vile.  Let  it  be  driven  out  of 
court,  therefore.  Let  its  mouth  be  shut.  Let  not  its 
whisper  be  heard  in  this  important  question. 

This  is  our  first  plea  ;  and  we  direct  you,  secondly, 
to  his  laws.     Were  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  com- 
monwealth impeached  for  sowing  disorder  and  vice 
through  the  state,  and  seducing,  by  all  methods  in  his 
power,  the  subject  into  evil  courses,  it  is  obvious  that 
one  point  of  severe  inquisition  would  be  the  laws 
enacted  during  his  administration.     These   are  the 
formal  expressions  of  the  ruler's  will.     If,  then,  it 
could  be  shown  that  the  whole  of  his  legislation  had 
been    distinguished    for    administering    the    wisest 
checks  to  vice  and  the  strongest  encouragements  to 
industry,  virtue,  and  social  order,  a  defence  would  be 
set  up  not  easily  shaken.     But  is  not  such  the  char- 
acter of  the  laws  of  God  ?     Are  they  not  holy,  just, 
and  good  ?     Who  will  dare  to  affirm  that  they  sanc- 
tion in  the  least  degree  any  of  the  disorders  of  the 
human  heart  ?     As  to  the  idea,  sometimes  insinuated, 
that  he  may,  by  a  secret  agency,  contravene  his  own 
laws,  it  has  not  the  shadow  of  foundation.     We  have 
seen  that  he  has  no  interest  in  contravening  them. 
His    character    forbids    it.      Why,   then,   should    a 
thought  be  cherished  so  derogatory,  I  do  not  say  to 
his  holiness,  but  his  power?  for  who  made  him  so 
dependent  on  his  subjects  that  he  finds  it  necessary 
to   equivocate   and   secretly  work   against  his   own 
edicts  ?     Lying  is  the  offspring  of  weakness.     Power 
never  lies.     And  yet  you  will  indulge  in  suppositions 
that  make  the  great  God  contradict  himself,  and  fal- 


SEB3fONS.  61 

sify  like  the  very  weakest  of  mankind.  And  what 
necessitates  this  absurd  alternative  ?  Nothing  more 
than  the  idea  that  there  are  certain  aiopearances 
which  cannot  well  be  explained  without  imagining 
some  degree  of  agency  on  his  part  in  sin ;  as  if  there 
were  not  a  thousand  appearances,  not  to  say  certain- 
ties, on  the  other  side,  which  have  infinitely  higher 
claim  to  our  respect. 

Lest,  however,  any  one  may  allege  that  the  laws  of 
God  are  mere  dead  letters,  while  all  the  powerful 
inducements  to  action  are  favorable  to  disobedience, 
we  call  your  attention  to  our  third  plea,  namely,  that 
God  has  not  only  guarded  the  interests  of  holiness 
by  good  laws,  but  has  proposed  the  strongest  possible 
motives  to  obedience,  and  the  strongest  possible 
motives  against  their  violation.  Here  we  pierce  the 
very  core  of  the  foul  charge  against  the  Deity. 
When  men  of  licentious  opinions  represent  him  as 
tempting  to  sin,  their  meaning  is  that  he  proposes 
motives  alluring  to  the  commission  of  it  by  the 
exhibition  of  a  certain  good  to  be  obtained,  and  cer- 
tain evils  to  be  avoided.  Now,  if  it  appears  that  he 
does  not ;  that  the  motives  he  presents  to  his  love 
and  service  are  immeasurably  greater  than  all  on  the 
side  of  transgression,  the  question  is  put  to  rest,  and 
the  cause  of  God  completely  triumphs.  On  this 
point,  what  more  needs  to  be  said  than  that  he  has 
sanctioned  his  laws  by  denunciations  of  everlasting 
punishment,  and  promises  of  eternal  reward  ?  No 
one  can  evade  their  force  by  pretending  doubts  con- 
cerning their  reality.  They  are  most  clearly  revealed, 
not  in  whispers,  like  the  dark,  ambiguous  oracles  of 


62  8ERM0NS. 

a  pagan  temple,  but  in  thunder,  like  the  law  from 
Sinai.  They  are  also  sanctions  equally  fitted  to  all 
mankind.  Amidst  the  great  variety  of  temperament 
among  men,  it  is  very  possible  that  inducements 
which,  when  presented  to  certain  .minds,  are  almost 
resistless,  may  to  another  be  no  inducements  at  all. 
Here  is  one  great  defect  in  hviman  law :  with  all 
their  good-will  and  dexterity,  legislators  find  them- 
selves unable  to  devise  sanctions  of  universal  applica- 
tion ;  and  here  the  excellency  of  those  provided  by 
our  Divine  Lawgiver,  that  as  all  men  have  the  same 
fear  of  misery  and  desire  of  immortality,  all  are 
equally  capable  of  appreciating  the  threatened  ill 
and  promised  good. 

It  may  be  said,  perhaps,  that  motives  drawn  from 
the  future  worlds  of  happiness  and  misery  are  not  so 
well  calculated  as  some  others  to  come  home  immedi- 
ately to  the  bosom ;  that  temporal  rewards  would 
have  possessed  much  more  efficacy ;  that  the  argu- 
ment, therefore,  from  the  profusion  of  eternal  sanc- 
tions is  defective, — it  being  still  true  that  God  has 
not  done  what  he  could  have  done  to  deter  men  from 
unholiness.  In  reply  to  this,  let  us  for  a  few  mo- 
ments allow  that  no  sanctions,  but  those  drawn  from 
eternity,  are  provided,  —  nothing  being  promised 
or  threatened  in  the  life  that  is ;  the  question  fairly 
presents  itself,  why  are  not  these  sufficient  ?  why 
do  they  not  come  home  immediately  to  the  bosom  ? 
Will  any  one  who  hears  me  say  that  they  are  un- 
adapted?  Shame  on  the  assertion,  if  it  be  made. 
You  feel  that  you  were  destined  for  immortality. 
Every  desire  and  instinct  of  the  soul  bears  witness 


SERMONS.  63 

that  yours  is  a  nobler  prerogative  than  that  of  the 
beasts  that  perish.  What  motives,  then,  are  so  well 
calculated  to  exercise  a  controlling  influence  as  those 
related  to  that  future  existence,  which  a  still,  small 
voice  within  has  long  taught  you  to  anticipate  ?  You 
say  you  cannot  grasp  eternity  in  your  contemplations. 
Present  retribution  is  something  tangible,  with  which 
you  feel  entirely  at  home.  But  of  the  world  that  as 
yet  is  not,  the  world  beyond  the  grave,  no  effort  of 
imagination  can  produce  a  lively  impression.  I  will 
not  deny  the  truth  of  these  assertions ;  but  allow  me 
with  all  candor  to  state  why  it  is  that  you  find  your- 
self so  indisposed  to  appreciate  eternal  rewards. 
The  reason  is  your  degradation  by  sin  and  sensuality. 
You  have  so  long  been  content  to  hold  exclusive  con- 
verse with  the  objects  that  are  seen  and  temporal, 
that  your  mental  vision  has  become  dimmed ;  you 
cannot  look  beyond  the  vicissitudes  of  the  present 
transitory  scene  ;  you  cannot  believe  in  a  hell,  be- 
cause you  do  not  feel  it ;  you  cannot  credit  an  eter- 
nity, because  it  is  not  yet  hegun.  But  this  debility  of 
spirit,  this  slavery  to  present  impressions,  is  not  the 
work  of  God.  He  created  you  with  an  understand- 
ing capable  as  well  of  reasoning  of  the  things  that 
will  be,  as  comparing  the  things  that  are.  He  gave 
you  the  imagination,  on  whose  eagle  wing  you  could 
soar  far  above  the  miserable  objects  which  engross 
your  regards,  hold  communion  with  angels  round 
the  heavenly  throne,  and  look  down  the  horrid  steep 
into  the  dungeons  of  despair.  If  these  powers  you 
have  neglected  to  exercise,  and  by  consequence  the 
talent  is  withdrawn,  the  fault  is  your  own.     Inability 


64  SERMONS. 

to  grasp  the  sanctions  of  eternity  is  only  another 
name  for  low  carnality,  —  a  rooted  opposition  of  heart 
to  contemplations  worthy  of  your  rational  nature. 

But  it  is  time  to  attack  the  principle  on  which  the 
whole  of  this  pretended  reasoning  is  founded,  namely, 
that  the  temporal  motives  to  a  course  of  sin  are  more 
powerful  than  the  temporal  motives  to  lioliness.  We 
deny  it,  and  affirm  that,  limiting  our  view  within  the 
narrow  horizon  of  this  life,  God  has  provided  every 
security  for  virtue,  consistent  with  the  probationary 
character  in  which  we  at  present  stand.  We  wish  to 
make  every  reasonable  concession.  We  allow  tliat 
this  is  not  our  rest;  that  the  rewards  of  obedience 
bloom  in  the  upper  paradise,  where  alone  they  can  be 
plucked  and  enjoyed  without  a  tear ;  that,  on  the 
other  hand,  God  does  not  recompense  the  sinner  with 
the  full  harvest  which  his  crimes  are  preparing.  Still 
we  hold  that  the  general  arrangements  of  Providence 
are  such  as  to  honor  with  decided  preference  a  holy 
life.  Endeavor  to  divest  yourselves  of  the  illusions 
created  by  the  glare  of  ou.tward  splendor,  and  meet 
with  true  philosophical  impartiality  the  question, 
whether  the  votary  of  virtue  or  vice  enjoys  the  great- 
est amount  of  substantial  happiness,  and  you  will 
find  a  superiority  on  the  side  of  the  former,  which, 
previous  to  examination,  nothing  would  have  induced 
you  to  believe.  As  to  the  happiness  derived  from 
God's  good  creatures,  he  has  it,  and  in  the  hest  ivay  too^ 
in  proper  subordination  to  more  exalted  felicities. 
What  gratification  of  sense,  intellect,  fancy,  is  en- 
joyed by  the  most  dainty  epicure,  which  the  pious 
man  has  not?    The  former  relishes  savory  food;  so 


SERMONS.  65 

does  the  latter.  His  palate  possesses  as  delicate  sen- 
sibility ;  his  eye  as  eagerly  takes  in  the  beauteous 
prospect ;  and  his  ear  is  equally  ravished  with  sweet 
sounds.  All  his  holy  dispositions  combine  to  fit  him 
for  enjoyment ;  his  humility  makes  every  blessing 
tenfold  more  delicious  from  the  consciousness  that  it  is 
not  deserved ;  his  temperance  preserves  him  from 
that  painful  nausea  which  is  a  constant  tax  on  immod- 
erate indulgence  ;  his  love  to  his  God  gives  ineffable 
beauty  to  the  meanest  objects,  because  he  sees  in  them 
all  the  impress  of  his  heavenly  Parent's  beneficence. 
He  can  take  delight  in  listening  to  the  hoarse  music 
of  the  tempest,  as  well  as  the  melody  of  the  grove ; 
in  winter's  snows,  as  well  as  summer's  green,  and  au- 
tumn's sober  gray ;  because  of  all  he  can  exclaim, 
"They  are  thy  works.  Parent  of  good !  " 

Even  amid  the  most  trying  afflictions,  —  disap- 
pointments, sickness,  old  age,  —  he  has  a  fountain 
within  that  is  incessantly  sending  forth  waters  of  re- 
freshment, a  uniform  flow  of  cheerfulness  and  sat- 
isfaction that  makes  a  perpetual  feast.  Memory 
calls  up  in  review  the  pleasing  picture  of  the  past ; 
Faith  stands  before  him,  like  the  angel  of  light,  and 
turns  the  shadow  of  death  into  morning. 

The  sinner,  on  tlie  contrary,  is  never  at  rest, 
never  happy.  When  deprived  of  the  opportunity  of 
gratification,  he  tosses  like  a  wild  bull  in  a  net ; 
and  even  when  he  enjoys,  enjoyment  soon  palls,  and 
he  runs  from  object  to  object  as  if  heaven  had  cursed 
him  with  a  thirst  never  to  be  satisfied ;  and,  verily, 
tins  curse  is  on  him.  God  has  so  constituted  blessings 
of  an  inferior  nature,  that,  in  the  very  fruition  of 


66  ^  SEEMONS. 

them,  we  are  taught  to  feel  the  necessity  of  a  bet- 
ter and  more  enduring  portion.  Thus  it  is,  that  the 
worldling,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  pageantry  and  splen- 
dor, when  he  turns  within,  finds  emptiness  and  an 
aching  void.  To  this  must  be  added,  what  is  more 
terrible  than  all,  the  upbraidings  of  an  accusing  con- 
science. Ah,  could  we  look  within  and  hear  him  in 
his  self-communings,  when  all  around  seems  gayety 
and  joy,  we  would  often  be  surprised  with  the  dole- 
ful exclamation,  "  If  this  be  happiness,  God,  what  is 
misery  ? " 

But  why,  it  may  be  asked,  is  there  ani/  enjoyment 
connected  with  sin  ?  Why  is  not  every  unlawful  in- 
dulgence instantly  followed  by  pure  ayid  absolute  mis- 
ery/, giving  to  the  pious  man,  not  a  superiority  only, 
but  a  monopoly  of  happiness  ?  If,  for  example,  our 
food,  the  very  moment  we  abuse  it  to  gluttony  and 
drunkenness,  became  wormwood  and  gall,  the  arrange- 
ment would  be  unexceptionable.  But  such  is  not  the 
constitution  of  things.  The  objects  of  sense  still  re- 
main tempting,  and  impart  pleasure,  long  after  they 
have  begun  to  be  abused.  To  this  I  reply,  that 
though  man  may  violate  the  law  of  his  being,  it  is 
not  to  be  expected  that  God  will  in  turn  violate  the 
order  he  has  established.  He  has  given  to  the  vari- 
ous objects  around  us  the  power  of  communicating  a 
certain  kind  of  enjoyment.  This  is  a  great  general 
law,  and  though  he  might  by  his  omnipotence  change 
their  nature,  yet  he  will  not  break  in  upon  the  uni- 
formity of  his  works  and  ways  to  accommodate  the 
sensualist.  He  will  not,  in  other  words,  by  a  mira- 
cle, change  wine,  that  "  maketh  glad  the  heart,"  into 


SEIi3fONS.  67 

corrosive  sublimate,  on  the  uncorking  of  the  second 
bottle.  Besides,  allowing  that  he  did  so,  would  the 
cause  of  holiness  be  profited  ?  It  would  check,  in- 
deed, the  outward  exacerbations  of  the  fever  of  de- 
praved desires,  as  the  sinner  would  be  made  to  feel 
at  once  the  pain  of  stepping  beyond  the  bounds  of 
rectitude ;  but  it  would  have  no  effect  on  the  disor- 
ders witJiin  ;  he  would  still  be  the  slave  of  appetite, 
though  he  could  not  gratify  it ;  his  virtue  would  be 
the  offspring  of  a  restraint  which  he  abhors,  and  in 
every  respect  he  would  remain  a  lover  of  the  creature 
more  than  a  lover  of  God. 

Here  we  might  leave  the  subject.  Yet,  as  we  have 
undertaken  to  vindicate  the  ways  of  God  against  the 
hard  speeches  and  thoughts  of  men,  it  seems  not  im- 
proper to  notice  the  favorite  argument  which  they 
employ  in  support  of  the  accusation,  and  which  has 
served  to  thousands  in  every  age  the  office  of  a 
staff  in  the  down-hill  course  to  perdition.  The  argu- 
ment is,  that  to  the  Author  of  our  nature  may  be 
justly  imputed  the  moral  character  of  the  acts  of  his 
creatures,  for  he  gave  the  lyrinciples  in  ivhich  they 
originated.  He  implanted  those  passions  from  which, 
as  from  a  fountain,  proceed  the  bitter  streams  of 
iniquity.  "  God  knows,"  they  continue,  "  we  are 
poor  creatures ;  have  been  guilty  of  many  disorders, 
and  fear  we  shall  be  guilty  of  many  more.  It  ap- 
pears destined  that  it  should  be  so.  "We  were  cre- 
ated with  such  an  excitable,  nervous  organization, 
with  so  many  and  impetuous  desires,  that  we  are  en- 
tirely unable  to  resist.  Our  hope  is  that  He,who  formed 
us  as  w^e  are,  will  make  tender  allowance  for  our  in- 


68  SERMONS. 

firmities."  Such  is  the  happy  scheme  by  which  they 
attempt  to  make  their  intemperance,  their  ghittony, 
their  covetousness  and  hist,  a  partnership  affair  be- 
tween them  and  the  Ahnighty. 

All  the  disorder  that  exists  in  the  soul  proceeds 
from  the  helpless  bondage  in  which  Nature — Heaven 
save  the  mark! — has  placed  us  to  the  passions.  If 
they  rage  and  turmoil  like  furious  beasts,  it  is  by 
virtue  of  the  power  which  the  Creator  gave  them. 
It  is  our  part  to  su.bmit.  Their  force  is  irresistible. 
We  have  no  bridle  they  will  obey.  So  pleads  the  sot 
so  long  as  he  can  wag  a  tongue,  and  hold  a  glass  to 
his  head.  So  talks  the  debauchee.  The  murderer 
belongs  to  the  same  school :  he  is  a  most  docile  and 
obedient  pupil  of  Nature.  It  is  always  at  her  voice 
that  he  whets  the  dagger,  and  drives  home  the  ball, 
—  always  ! 

Let  me  briefly  point  out  the  gross  sophism  which 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  this  atrocious  calumny  on 
God  and  man.  They  pretend  that,  as  the  pas- 
sions are  a  component  part  of  our  nature,  so  blind 
obedience  to  them  must  be  obedience  to  nature. 
But  these,  we  beg  leave  to  say,  are  two  very  dif- 
ferent propositions.  That  they  belong  to  our  na- 
ture is  freely  granted,  but  we  utterly  deny  that  they 
are  our  wliole  nature.  They  are  the  motive-powers 
of  the  soul,  the  grand  incentives  to  action,  without 
which  man  would  be  a  stock,  his  life  a  "  waveless 
calm,  a  slumber  of  the  dead."  There  is,  however, 
at  the  same  time,  a  directive  and  guiding  power,  of 
which  the  system  of  these  gentlemen  very  conven- 
iently takes  no  notice.     Man  has  the  noble  faculties 


SERMONS,  69 

of  reason  —  conscience  —  freedom,  which  stand  at 
the  helm,  regulating  the  onward  movements,  check- 
ing, moderating,  stopping  them,  and  preventing  ex- 
cess and  wild  disorder.  To  follow  nature,  then,  is 
not  to  be  the  blind,  submissive  slave  of  impulses,  but 
to  follow  them  as  directed  by  their  appropriate  and 
legitimate  master.  Indeed,  it  is  this  which  consti- 
tutes the  great  distinction  between  man  and  the 
brute.  The  latter  rushes  on  his  object  with  headlong 
impetuosity,  intent  only  on  satisfying  the  all-engross- 
ing inclination  of  the  moment.  Man,  with  the  same 
eagerness  of  desire,  can  pause,  deliberate,  compare 
the  future  with  the  present ;  and,  by  calling  up 
the  awful  forms  of  duty,  honor,  and  retribution,  sub- 
due the  most  raging  storm  of  appetite.  Facts  with- 
out number  prove  that  this  part  of  our  mental  nature 
is  not  so  incurably  wild  and  savage  as  some  suppose, 
—  that  it  can  be  made  to  obey  as  well  the  bridle  as 
the  spur.  The  rudest  aboriginal  of  our  western 
forest  often  does  violence  to  his  natural  impulses. 
With  all  his  characteristic  thoughtlessness,  he  is  seen 
almost  every  day  sacrificing,  under  the  influence  of 
reflection,  the  present  to  the  future.  Give  him  a 
quantity  of  food  merely  sufficient  to  satisfy  present 
hunger,  informing  him,  at  the  same  time,  that  no 
more  may  be  expected  for  two  days,  he  will  divide 
it,  reserving  a  portion  for  the  following  day,  though 
his  craving  is  scarcely  in  the  least  diminished.  In 
other  words,  the  superior  power  of  reason  steps  in, 
and  pronounces  the  expediency  of  denying  himself  to- 
day that  life  may  be  sustained  to-morrow.  His  dog 
would  not  act  thus ;  and  here  is  just  the  difference 


70  SER310NS, 

between  man  and  the  dog.  Now,  if  hunger  and  thirst, 
the  most  untamable  of  all  appetites,  can  be  thus 
controlled,  why  should  we  deem  it  impossible  to  con- 
tain within  bounds  others  less  importunate  ?  What 
impulse  is  there  so  violent  that  it  must  be  obeyed  ? 
Not  avarice.  Craving  as  it  is,  and  mean  in  the  prose- 
cution of  its  schemes,  it  can  do  without  its  idols. 
Not  love.  Occasionally,  indeed,  it  turns  the  head  of 
some  silly,  novel-reading  boy,  but  its  stings  are  sel- 
dom mortal ;  and  though  in  his  romantic  frenzy  he 
terms  the  beloved  object  his  universe,  his  heaven, 
his  all,  facts  prove  that  he  can  suffer  the  loss  of  her 
without  serious  inconvenience.  Ungratified  anger 
seldom  kills  a  man.  Deprive  him,  in  the  most  fu- 
rious paroxysm,  of  all  opportunity  of  wreaking  it, 
and  you  occasion  only  a  little  overflowing  of  bile  into 
the  gall-ducts.  Indeed,  it  is  extraordinary  what 
small  circumstances  sometimes  domineer  over  the 
most  violent  passions,  and  on  what  slight  occasions 
a  man  exercises  his  natural  authority  over  them. 
I  presume  there  is  not  one  man  in  a  hundred,  who, 
when  grossly  insulted,  could  not  restrain  himself  in 
the  presence  of  a  lady.  The  most  shameless  profli- 
gate would  decline  perpetrating  certain  descriptions 
of  crime  before  the  eyes  of  a  little  child.  How 
promptly  does  the  young  drunkard,  in  the  midst  of 
his  boon  companions,  throw  away  the  cup  when  told 
that  a  father  or  guardian  is  at  the  door  !  What 
more  evident,  then,  than  the  fact  that  there  is  a  power 
superior  to  impulse,  —  that,  if  the  passions  are  wild 
beasts,  as  is  sometimes  represented,  there  is  a  God 
within  man  that  can  enter  the  cage,  beard  the  lion, 


SERMONS.  71 

trample  on  the  tiger,  and  bring  them  purring  and 
crouching  at  his  feet.  So  far  from  being  masters, 
they  can  be  made  humble  servants  at  will  of  this 
superior  faculty.  Nor  has  it  entirely  lost  its  au- 
thority in  the  most  abandoned.  It  survives  the  most 
destructive  process,  and  shows,  in  the  most  debased, 
that  it  was  born  to  command  ;  for  where  is  the  wretch 
who  does  not  sometimes  deny  himself  at  its  warning 
voice  ?  In  a  virtuous  and  well-regulated  mind  it  reigns 
supreme.  One  word  from  its  throne  can  hush  the 
most  furious  agitations  of  passion  into  a  holy  sabbath- 
calm.  Some  of  you  are  acquainted  with  many  beau- 
tiful historical  illustrations  of  this ;  and  perhaps  the 
chief  value  of  history  consists  in  the  lessons  it  ex- 
hibits of  the  power  exercised  by  virtue  over  the 
soul  in  most  adverse  circumstances.  You  have  read, 
doubtless,  the  beautiful  anecdote  concerning  David  in 
the  book  of  Kings.  Exhausted  with  fatigue  and 
thirst  during  a  severe  battle,  he  expresses  his  desire 
for  a  little  water,  which  could  only  be  obtained  by 
passing  through  the  camp  of  the  enemy.  Three  of 
his  captains  rise,  rush  through  the  hostile  phalanx, 
and  return  with  the  water  in  a  helmet.  The  king 
receives  it ;  but,  struck  with  the  heroic  affection  which 
had  encountered  such  dangers  for  his  sake,  instead 
of  satisfying  his  thirst,  he  dashes  it  on  the  ground,  ex- 
claiming, "  Be  it  far  from  me  that  I  should  do  this. 
Is  not  this  the  blood  of  men  that  went  in  jeopardy  of 
their  lives  ? "  A  similar  incident  is  recorded  of  Sir 
Philip  Sydney.  Being  mortally  wounded  and  carried 
off  the  field,  he  earnestly  demanded  a  little  water. 
On  its  being  brought,  and  while  in  the  act  of  touch- 


72  SERMONS. 

ing  it  to  his  lips,  he  perceives  a  wounded  soldier 
gazing  at  him  with  a  look  which  told  how  he  coveted 
the  refreshing  beverage.  He  puts  away  the  untasted 
cup,  and  commands  it  to  be  presented  to  him,  saying 
''  Poor  fellow,  he  needs  it  most."  Let  such  en- 
nobling facts  as  these  decide  the  question  whether 
man  is  the  helpless  slave  of  appetite. 

But  they  are  not  the  only  facts  on  this  subject. 
Not  only  does  history  abound  with  instances  of  men 
who,  under  the  sharpest  irritations,  have  resisted  the 
impetuosity  of  passion,  but  of  men  who,  by  culti- 
vating the  divine  faculty  of  self-command,  have  cre- 
ated within  themselves  second  natures^  and  have  be- 
come remarkable  for  virtues  directly  opposed  to  the 
vicious  inclinations  which  seemed  a  part  of  their 
original  constitution.  Thousands  and  thousands,  who 
by  temperament  were  sensualists  of  the  lowest  grade, 
and  seemed  born  to  wallow  in  animal  enjoyment, 
have  become  models  of  a  most  elevated  and  austere 
morality  ;  thousands,  who,  by  complexion,  were  tur- 
bulent, fierce,  irascible,  have,  like  our  immortal 
Washington,  changed  themselves  into  doves  and 
lambs,  —  proving  that  the  heaven-born  soul  is  its  own 
master  if  it  only  chooses  to  exert  the  mastery.  Away, 
then,  with  the  hideous  notion  that  our  Creator  has 
placed  us  under  the  fatal  necessity  of  sinning. 

They  who  reason  thus  are  like  an  ignorant  rustic, 
who,  gazing  at  one  of  those  magnificent  floating 
palaces  which  darken  our  rivers,  would  infer,  from 
the  explosive  energies  of  the  mighty  agents  employed 
in  propelling  them,  that  certain  destruction  would 
result  from  their  action.     But  he  does  not  see  the 


stupendous  balance-wheel  that  gives  order  and  regu- 
larity to  the  general  movement.  He  does  not  see 
the  woodman  adjusting  the  fuel,  the  engineer  at  the 
safety-valve  and  stopcock,  the  master  at  tlie  helm ; 
else  his  alarm  would  be  changed  into  rapturous  ad- 
miration at  the  spectacle  of  so  tremendous  a  mass 
obeying  the  commands  of  a  pigmy,  five  feet  high, 
with  the  docility  and  promptness  of  a  child,  —  ad- 
vancing, retrograding,  stopping,  turning  to  the  right 
and  to  the  left,  as  his  sovereign  will  directs.  Such  is 
human  nature.  The  passions  are  the  moving  power, 
the  fire,  and  the  steam.  The  soul,  in  her  higher 
faculties  of  reason  and  conscience  is  the  woodman, 
the  engineer,  and  the  master  at  the  helm.  Let  them 
be  faithful  to  the  high  trust  committed  to  them  by 
the  Creator,  and  moral  disorder  will  be  banished  from 
the  earth.  If  they  choose  to  forsake  their  post, 
dreadful  will  be  the  consequence ;  but  no  blame  will 
attach  to  the  wise  and  mighty  Architect.  Of  all  this 
we  have  a  witness  in  our  own  breasts.  We  are  con- 
scious of  mental  freedom  and  power  of  self-control, 
and  have  therefore  the  same  proof  of  its  reality  as  of 
our  own  existence.  Hence  that  feeling  of  remorse, 
which  is  inseparable  from  every  criminal  act,  and 
bids  defiance  to  all  the  speculations  of  an  atheistical 
philosophy.  Stand  aloof  from  the  jargon  of  muddy, 
scholastic  disputation,  and  listen  to  the  voice  of  your 
own  hearts.  You  will  have  the  best  answer  to  those 
wretched  sophists  who  would  cheat  you  out  of  your 
religion,  your  immortality,  and  your  Grod. 

The  improvement  to  be  made  of  this  subject  is  the 
establishing   in  our  minds  a  firm  conviction  of  the 

7 


74  SERMONS. 

righteousness  of  Godlii  all  his  dealings,  and  especially 
in  the  denouncement  of  his  wrath  against  sin.  The 
great  Being  with  whom  we  have  to  do  is  holy.  He 
hates  sin ;  he  has  no  fellowship  with  it.  It  is  that 
foul  stain  upon  his  government  which  can  only  be 
washed  away  by  a  deluge  of  wrath.  And  shall  we, 
with  this  truth  staring  us  in  the  face,  nurture  in  our 
bosoms  the  accursed  thing, — the  only  thing  in  heaven 
or  earth  the  Deity  disclaims  as  his  work  ?  Are  there 
any  who  are  endeavoring  to  find  an  excuse  for  their 
offences  in  the  idea  condemned  by  the  text?  We 
warn  such  that  they  are  mistaken,  and  that  their 
deceitful  sophistries  may  be  their  ruin.  Believe  me, 
you  will  find  the  blame  of  your  sins  your  own  exclu- 
sively, and  this  blame  shall  be  peculiarly  aggravated 
by  the  fact  that  you  have  rejected  One  who  has 
offered  to  save  you  from  their  dreadful  consequences. 
Seeing,  then,  that  you  are  still  within  the  reach  of 
mercy,  make  it  your  great,  your  chief  concern  to 
avoid  so  tremendous  a  condemnation. 


The  Great  Problem. 


ly. 

THE  GREAT  PROBLEM. 


Rom.  5  :  12.  Mbfi'fforc,  as  bn  ouc  muit  nxxx  tntertb  into  tbc  toovISj,  anir 
iicutb  bn  sin;  uub  so  bratlj  jjusscb  njjou  all  nuu,  for  tbut  all  bubi 
sinncir. 


T  is  a  fact,  confirmed  by  tlie  whole  history 
of  man,  that  we  are  born  unholy  and  depraved. 
There  are  lodged  in  the  heart  strong  and  un- 
governable propensities  to  sin,  evincing  their 
existence  so  early,  and  so  universally,  that  we  can 
hesitate  as  little  in  ascribing  them  to  nature  as  the 
appetites  of  hunger  and  thirst,  or  the  emotions  of  joy 
and  grief.  Amply,  however,  as  experience  and  the 
Word  of  God  support  the  doctrine  of  native  deprav- 
ity, it  is  calculated,  on  its  first  exhibition,  to  surprise, 
to  disconcert  us.  Here  is  a  whole  race  of  immortal 
beings  poisoned  in  its  source,  the  victim  of  some 
strange  malformation,  we  may  almost  say,  in  the 
mother's  womb.  That  misfortune  should  pursue  the 
evil-doer,  is  the  obvious  dictate  of  reason  ;  but  that 
evil  should  erect  her  throne  in  an  unoffending  world, 
—  that  its  inhabitants  should  be  deprived  of  the 
chance  of  earning,  each  for  himself,  a  more  favorable 
allotment,  by  a  misfortune  experienced  at  birtJi,  is  a 
riddle  which  we  cannot  but  feel  a  strong  desire  to  see 
expounded. 

The  enliglitened  heathen  of  antiquity  spent  many 


78  SERMONS. 

a  weary  hour  in  speculating  on  the  problem,  but  to 
little  purpose.  Some  of  them  had  recourse  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  preexistence  of  souls,  —  supposing 
the  present  ill-estate  of  human  nature  to  be  the  effect 
of  sin  committed  in  a  previous  life,  of  which  all  re- 
membrance was  lost.  A  strange  method,  you  say, 
of  untying  a  knot.  But  make  charitable  allowance, 
if  you  please,  for  inquirers  situated  as  they  were. 
Illumination  from  the  sempiternal  source  was  denied 
them.  The  problem  they  undertook  to  resolve  was 
beset  with  difficulties,  and,  if  they  resorted  to  extraor- 
dinary methods  of  solution,  it  shows  how  seriously 
they  were  perplexed.  The  most  fantastic  errors  of 
the  human  mind  have  often  a  noble  source,  —  origi- 
nating in  an  honest  and  earnest  desire  to  expound 
the  mysteries  of  the  universe. 

Others  took  refuge  in  Manicheanism,  or  the  doc- 
trine of  two  eternal  principles.  Not  conceiving  it 
possible  that  a  just  Being  would  allow  the  present  state 
of  things  to  exist,  had  he  power  to  prevent  it,  they  suj)- 
posed  that  a  good  and  evil  God  coexisted  with  each 
other  from  all  eternity,  between  whom  there  was  a  con- 
tinual conflict,  in  which  the  latter  had  sometimes  the 
upper  hand.  The  question,  therefore,  whence  comes 
corruption  of  nature  with  all  its  attendant  evils,  met 
a  prompt  reply.  The  benevolent  Oromascles  was 
foiled  by  the  accursed  Ahriman.  Thus  did  heathen 
philosophy  toss  and  flounder,  — "  in  endless  mazes 
lost" — certain  of  the  fact  that  she  stood  in  the  midst 
of  a  ruined  world,  but  unable  to  explain  it  on  any 
solid  or  satisfactory  principles.  Among  the  many 
blessings  we  enjoy  as  Christians,  it  is  not  the  least 


SEEMONS.  79 

that  we  have  a  clear  historical  if  not  metaphysical 
solution  of  this  interesting  problem.  "■  By  one  man 
sin  entered  into  the  world."  "  In  Adam  all  die." 
"  The  judgment  was  by  one  to  condemnation."  "  By 
one  man's  offence  death  reigned  by  one."  "  By 
one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners." 
Nothing  can  be  more  transparent  than  the  meaning 
of  these  remarkable  passages.  They  establish,  beyond 
the  possibility  of  doubt  or  evasion,  a  moral  as  well  as 
natural  union  of  the  most  vital  character  between  the 
human  family  and  their  original  parent.  His  con- 
duct and  destiny  have  immediately  affected  the  con- 
duct and  destiny  of  his  descendants.  This  is  the  key 
to  the  dark  chambers  of  death,  surveyed  in  our  last 
discourse.  We  do  not  say  that  the  explanation  an- 
swers every  question  which  curiosity  and  a  prurient 
fancy  may  ask.  But  it  is  enough  for  practical 
purposes.  At  least,  the  mind  finds  in  it  a  2^o{7it  of 
rest,  where,  wearied  with  the  vain  conjectures  of 
reason  unenlightened  by  faith,  we  may  calmly  repose 
in  the  hope  of  further  developments  in  the  world  of 
light. 

Without  entering  into  a  regular  disquisition,  we 
propose  offering  a  few  general  thoughts  on  the  sub- 
ject, which  may  be  of  use  to  minds  not  fully  estab- 
lished in  the  belief  of  what  we  consider  an  important 
if  not  fundamental  article  of  our  religion. 

In  searching  out  the  relations  which  the  first  man 
sustained  to  his  posterity,  we  naturally  turn  with  in- 
terest to  the  historical  records  concerning  him  in  the 
book  of  Genesis.  Opening  the  volume,  our  eye  im- 
mediately falls  upon  a  series  of  interesting  transac- 


80  SEHMONS. 

tions  in  which  he  makes  the  principal  figure;  and 
the  inquiry  suggests  itself  what  precise  character  he 
sustained  in  them.  Must  we  view  him  as  standing 
alone  in  his  individuality,  or  as  personating  the  whole 
mass  of  life  that  was  to  proceed  from  his  loins  ?  The 
latter  view  is  undoubtedly  the  true  one.  In  all  that 
is  recorded  as  given  to  him  or  said  and  done  by  his 
Creator,  the  race  ivas  considered^ — not  the  individual; 
mankind^  —  and  not  the  man.  We  allow  no  excep- 
tion, not  even  his  name.  The  word  "Adam  "  is  not, 
as  many  suppose,  a  proper  name  expressing  his  single 
personality,  but  that  of  the  species^  which  had  a  com- 
plete existence  in  him  before  the  birth  of  any  descend- 
ant. Nor  can  we  doubt  that  by  this  fact,  —  the  fact 
that  a  common  and  not  a  particular  designation  was 
given  him,  the  Creator  adumbrated  that  great  law  of 
propagation  which  holds  universally  in  the  kingdom 
of  organic  life,  similia  ex  similihus,  "'like  from  like ;^^ 
in  other  words,  the  shoot  receives  from  its  parent 
stock  a  common  nature.  But  let  us  notice  a  few 
other  particulars  recorded.  He  was  formed  in  the 
divine  likeness.  Gen.  i.  26  :  "  And  God  said.  Let  us 
make  man  in  our  image  after  our  likeness."  No  one 
surely  discovers  here  any  singular  prerogative  which 
should  distinguish  Adam  from  others.  The  high 
honor  referred  to  was  put  upon  the  species^  as  the 
apostle  Paul  expressly  informs  us.  The  next  thing 
recorded  is  the  blessing  pronounced  upon  him  (verse 
28)  :  "  And  God  blessed  them  and  said.  Be  fruitful  and 
multiply  and  replenish  the  earth."  Doubtless  this 
was  a  benediction  on  the  whole  of  the  great  family 
of  man,  who  are   here   addressed  in  the   person  of 


SEE3fONS.  81 

their  common  father.  A  third  circiimstance  is  the 
power  and  dominion  imparted  (verse  28)  :  "  and  have 
dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea  and  fowl  of  the  air, 
and  over  every  living  thing  that  moveth  on  the  face 
of  the  earth."  No  one  can  think  that  this  magnifi- 
cent grant  was  made  to  Adam  alone.  It  was  a  na- 
tional charter,  conferring  rights  and  immunities  on 
the  whole  community  of  human  beings.  When  God 
presented  him  with  Eve,  and  instituted  marriage, 
announcing  that  "  man  should  leave  father  and 
mother  and  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and  they  twain 
should  be  one  flesh,"  our  Saviour  tells  us  distinctly 
that  his  descendants  were  contemplated  equally  with 
himself.  The  like  must  be  said  of  the  institution  of 
the  Sabbath. 

Now,  it  were  not  a  little  strange  if,  while  in  every 
other  recorded  transaction  he  stood  forth  as  the  pub- 
lic head  and  type  of  his  species,  the  interdict  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  respected  him 
only  in  his  iyidividual  capacity.  But  we  are  not  left 
to  conjecture.  It  is  just  here  that  we  have  crowded 
upon  us  the  most  decided  proofs  of  his  representative, 
character.  After  he  committed  the  act  of  transgres- 
sion, the  offended  Lawgiver  confronted  him  and  pro- 
nounced a  sentence,  every  word  of  which,  as  experi- 
ence proves,  was  a  death-knell  to  unborn  millions. 
To  the  woman  he  said,  "  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy 
sorrow  and  thy  conception."  How  many  beside  the 
mother  of  all  have  felt  the  bitterness  of  this  entail  ? 
To  the  man  he  said,  "  Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy 
sake ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of 
thy  life."     But  where  do  we  read  that,  when  the  old 


82  SERMONS. 

man  laid  his  weary  head  in  the  dust,  earth  recovered 

her  paradisiac  bloom  and  Eden  smiled  again  ?  There 
is  no  mistaking  this  matter.  The  original  penalty  is 
felt  every  day  in  the  sorrows  of  female  conception, — 
in  the  subjection  of  the  whole  sex  among  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  Gentile  nations,  approaching  to  abso- 
lute bondage,  —  in  the  barrenness  of  the  soil,  the 
difficulty  of  procuring  subsistence,  and  the  final  re- 
turn of  the  jaded,  mortal  body  to  its  native  dust. 
And  if  that  part  of  it  which  is  visible  and  temporal 
be  thus  fully  executed  on  the  collective  family  of  man, 
we  can  hardly  doubt  that  it  is  condemned  to  drink  of 
its  moral  ingredients.  The  visible  is  to  the  thought- 
ful spirit,  God's  solemn  language  conveying  the  invis- 
ible. He  who  reads  aright  the  volume  of  external 
nature  can  discover  in  it  hidden  meanings,  which 
concern  far  higher  interests  than  those  of  our  gross 
corporeal  nature.  Let  the  honest  and  calm  inquirer 
read  the  subsequent  history  of  the  book  of  Genesis 
in  the  light  of  these  remarks.  Let  his  thoughts  fix 
on  that  most  significant  declaration,  "  and  Adam 
begat  a  son  in  his  own  likeness," — as  illustrated  in 
the  murder  of  Abel  by  an  infuriate  brother  ;  let  him 
follow  the  progress  of  the  hapless  race  from  one 
measure  of  iniquity  to  another,  till  "  God  repented 
that  he  had  made  man,"  and  then  let  him  draw  his 
own  conclusions.  To  my  mind,  the  doctrine  we  are 
illustrating  seems  to  be  taught  in  the  Mosaical  record 
almost  as  clearly  as  that  of  creation  itself. 

It  may  not  be  uninstructive  to  observe,  that  the 
principle  of  government  on  which  it  rests  is  recog- 
nized in  other  connections ;  nay,  we  find  it  in  almost 


SERMONS.  83 

every  page  of  the  Old  Testament  annals.  To  what 
were  the  Jews  indebted  for  the  privilege,  enjoyed  so 
many  ages,  of  being  God's  peculiar  people  ?  To  their 
connection  with  believing  Abraham. 

On  account  of  the  sin  of  Ham,  the  posterity  of 
Canaan  were  doomed  to  perpetual  servitude.  How 
many  youth,  and  new-born  infants  perished  in  the 
waters  of  the  deluge,  and  in  the  fires  of  Sodom  !  The 
crime  of  Achan  was  so  charged  on  the  whole  people  of 
Israel,  that  they  were  made  to  sustain  a  bloody  defeat. 
Look  at  the  same  people  at  another  period  of  their 
existence.  Eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  their  rulers 
crucified  the  Holy  One,  accompanying  the  act  with  the 
horrid  imprecation,  "  His  blood  be  on  us  and  on  our 
children  ! "  And  have  they  not  been  taken  at  their 
word  ?  Are  not  their  posterity  a  nation  scattered  and 
peeled,  meted  out  and  trodden  down,  the  most  woful 
spectacle  the  world  can  produce,  of  a  race  forsaken  by 
God?  With  innumerable  revealed  facts  like  these, 
why  should  we  stumble  at  the  primitive  imputation  ? 
They  are  fair  analogies,  proving  how  the  great  Legis- 
lator administered  his  code  of  laws.  They  give  us 
the  usage  of  gove^mment.  It  inflicts  consequences  of 
misconduct  on  whole  masses  who  are  connected  with 
the  original  oifender.  We  may  dislike  the  fact,  and 
thunder  against  it  with  all  the  rhetoric  at  our  dis- 
posal. But  there  it  stands^  in  the  book  of  revelation, 
and,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  also  in  the  book  of  nature, 
—  grim,  if  you  please,  but  substantial,  not  to  be  con- 
jured away  by  epithets,  or  the  pious  exclamation, 
"  Angels  and  ministers  of  grace  defend  us  !  "  Doubt- 
less the  final  issue  will  prove  that  God  can  take  care 


84  SERMONS. 

of  liis  own  character,  and  effectually  vindicate  this, 
as  all  his  other  ways  to  man. 

We  shall  call  your  notice,  for  a  few  moments,  to 
another  aspect  of  the  subject.  Our  doctrine  demands 
assent  by  a  claim  of  necessity  ;  no  other  hypothesis,  of 
the  least  plausibility,  even  attempting  to  explain  the 
present  condition  of  the  human  race.  Allusion  was 
made  to  this  in  our  prefatory  remarks ;  but  it  de- 
serves more  than  incidental  notice,  being  an  argu- 
ment which  no  sophistry  can  evade:  That  our  con- 
dition in  the  world  is  not  a  happy  one,  and  that  the 
infelicity  commences  very  early,  will  not  be  disputed. 
The  first  cry  of  the  infant,  on  leaving  its  mother's 
womb,  is  a  cry  of  pain,  as  if  it  foreboded  the  evils 
that  were  to  come,  and  the  dark  shadow  of  the 
future  already  rested  on  its  spirit.  It  is  the  subject 
of  many  distressing  maladies.  Convulsion  racks  its 
limbs,  —  burning  fevers  dry  up  the  springs  of  life, — 
usually,  too,  its  death-agonies  are  more  intense  than 
those  of  age  more  advanced.  But  these  are  com- 
paratively trifles.  It  is  the  subject,  as  we  have  seen, 
of  a  terrible  moral  disease^  which  never  fails  to  de- 
velop itself  in  enmity  to  God,  and  alienation  from  all 
that  is  good.  I  say,  then,  and  say  it  with  all  con- 
fidence, that  the  constitution  under  which  we  are 
placed  is  a  melancholy  one,  and  to  represent  it  other- 
wise is  an  outrage  on  common  sense. 

The  question,  then,  fairly  meets  us,  —  whence  this 
abnormal,  disjointed  state  of  things  ?  —  and  must  be 
answered  in  one  of  the  three  following  ways.  Either 
it  originated  in  the  sovereign  will  of  our  Creator,  or 
must  be  the  result  of  our  own  misconduct,  or  must 


SEBMONS.  85 

be  traced  to  that  of  our  first  progenitor,  in  whose 
day  the  evil  undoubtedly  commenced.  With  regard 
to  the  first,  no  man  can  bring  himself  to  believe  it 
seriously.  What !  the  present  system  that  which 
came  originally  from  the  hand  of  God,  and  which  he 
pronounced  ver^  good?  Impossible!  The  thought 
that  a  benevolent  and  holy  being  could  place  im- 
mortal creatures  in  so  false  and  unhappy  a  position  — 
from  the  start  —  without  any  previous  reason,  but 
merely  to  display  his  arbitrary  power,  is  perfectly 
shocking.  I  tell  the  Almiglity  he  has  no  right  to 
create  us  as  we  are.  He  must  be  a  monster,  a 
demon,  a  very  personification  of  the  Manichean  prin- 
ciple of  evil,  if  he  found  it  in  his  heart  to  send  forth 
such  an  abortion  into  the  theatre  of  existence.  Shall 
we  say,  then,  that  the  evil  is  caused  by  ourselves  ? 
Impossible !  we  are  horn  in  it.  The  fatal  contagion 
seized  us  in  the  very  article  of  conception.  Nothing 
remains  but  the  last  alternative,  so  amply  confirmed 
by  revelation,  that,  being  federally  united  with  the 
sinning  progenitor  of  the  race,  we  come  into  the 
world  blighted  and  fallen  creatures.  We  do  not  say 
that  this  explains  the  whole  mystery  of  the  subject, 
but  it  is  satisfactory  as  far  as  it  goes.  It  declares 
that  our  unfortunate  family  was  once  under  a  fair 
and  reasonable  probation,  —  that  our  fates  were  en- 
twined with  one  possessing  every  qualification  of  a 
representative,  and  that  the  great  Legislator  acts 
rightly  in  enforcing  tiie  consequences.  Hence  it  is, 
that  from  the  moment  of  existence  we  are  treated  as 
out  of  favor  and  fellowship  with  him ;  "•  the  streams 
of  his  goodness,"  to  use  the  language  of  another, 


86  SERMONS. 

"  have  been  intercepted ;  the  healthful  influences  of 
his  spirit  have  been  withheld,  and  the  soul,  once  a 
beautiful  living  temple,  is  now  a  shattered  ruin ;  the 
lamps  extinct ;  the  golden  candlestick  displaced  ;  the 
altar  overturned ;  the  sacred  incense,  which  sent  roll- 
ing up  to  heaven  its  rich  perfume,  changed  into 
hellish  vapor." 

Talk  not  to  me  of  creating  sovereignty  being  the 
cause  of  all  this :  I  laugh  at  the  explanation.  But  I 
bow  reverently  at  the  thought  of  its  being  induced 
by  the  delinquency  of  a  covenant  head,  after  a  fair 
trial,  in  violation  of  a  solemn  compact,  in  which 
Divine  Wisdom  saw  fit  that  I  should  be  included. 
This  is  the  whole  doctrine  of  our  fall  in  Adam.  It 
does  not  create  the  evils  under  which  we  groan.  The 
evils  exist,  whatever  doctrine  you  adopt.  There  they 
are,  around  you  and  within  you.  The  only  question 
is,  does  it  furnish  the  solution  of  them  ?  and  I  say, 
boldly,  that,  reason  itself  being  judge,  nothing  has 
ever  been  thought  of  which  deserves  to  be  named  on 
the  same  day.  What  comparison  between  it  and 
that,  which  would  resolve  the  whole  matter  into  ar- 
bitrary sovereignty,  asserting  that  no  sad  catastrophe 
has  occurred  to  affect  human  destiny,  but  that  all 
things  go  on  as  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  ? 

We  shall  now  offer  a  few  observations  in  answer  to 
objections ;  for  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  prejudices 
against  our  truth  ai'e  found  to  prevail  extensively; 
though  we  have  never  seen  the  man,  who,  closely 
pressed,  would  not  half  acknowledge  that  the  belief 
of  it  was  a  logical  necessity,  —  a  belief  from  which 
he  could  not  escape.     The  objections  may  be  all  re- 


SERMONS.  87 

duced  to  two.  1.  Transfer  of  penal  consequences 
to  those  not  actually  guilty  is  unjust.  2.  It  is 
capricious  and  arbitrary,  answering  no  valuable 
ends. 

As  to  the  former,  we  shall  not  yield  to  the  tempta- 
tion of  entertaining  you  with  metaphysical  subtilties, 
being  well  satisfied  that  they  are  not  profitable  in 
establishing  the  truth  of  God.  They  bring  it  down 
from  tlie  lofty  vantage  ground  it  occupies  as  a  reve- 
lation from  heaven ;  and,  in  general,  perplex  more 
than  they  enlighten.  We  hold  that  the  infinite 
Being  is  himself  the  most  competent  judge  of  what 
is  just  and  unjust,  and  shall  never  allow  ourselves  to 
declare  war  against  a  fact  in  his  moral  government, 
because  we  cannot  reduce  it  to  harmony  with  our 
maxims.  Now,  we  tell  these  objectors,  that  they  are 
attaching  a  fact.  Dare  tliey  deny  that  man  comes 
forth  to  play  his  part  in  the  universe  under  a  malig- 
nant planet,  —  under  circumstances  the  most  unpro- 
pitious  to  his  happiness  that  can  well  be  imagined  ? 
Bear  in  mind  what  has  been  repeatedly  asserted  and 
is  beyond  denial, —  that  we  are  corrupt  from  the  womb, 
that  we  agonize  at  the  mother's  breast,  that  we  die ; 
and  when  we  live  to  be  capable  of  intelligent  action, 
we  are  the  slaves  of  impulses  which  we  cannot  govern, 
and  which  invariably  bring  forth  fruit  unto  death. 
The  alternative  is  then  before  us.  If  God  has  not 
visited  us  with  these  calamities  for  the  sin  of  Adam, 
he  inflicts  them  for  no  sin  at  all.  The  present  uni- 
versal state  of  the  human  family  is  an  accident. 
Nature  determined  the  question  of  its  destiny,  by  the 
tossing  up  of  a  copper,  and  unfortunately  it  turned  up 


SERMONS. 


tails.  Is  such  a  theory  an  improved  conception  of 
the  justice  of  the  holy  One?  To  treat  a  race  as 
depending  for  the  development  of  its  capacity  for 
happiness  on  the  conduct  of  him  with  whom  they 
are  so  intimately  united  by  the  law  of  organic  life 
that  they  derive  existence  from  him,  and  may  be 
truly  called  a  part  of  himself,  is  very  unjust.  They 
cannot  think  of  such  a  thing ;  but  to  maim.,  and 
torture.,  to  shut  up  in  darkness  and  pollution  ;  to  ex- 
clude all  fair  chance  of  rising  to  a  better  condition, 
for  no  reason  whatever,  but  caprice,  —  the  "  so  I  will, 
so  I  order,"  —  of  a  despot,  is  the  quintessence  of  equity 
and  benevolence !  If  this  be  rationalism.,  then  let 
my  place  be  among  the  bigots. 

In  meeting  the  charge  of  injustice,  we  must  ob- 
serve, further,  that  the  objector  betrays  singular 
ignorance  of  what  every  day  passes  around  him. 
The  position  on  which  he  bases  his  reasoning  may  be 
carried  out,  for  aught  we  know,  in  the  planet  Her- 
schel,  or  the  fixed  stars,  but  leads  to  endless  ab- 
surdity when  applied  to  our  little  ball.  It  is,  that 
every  moral  hQiwg  should  stand  or  fall.,  he  happy  or 
miserable^  on  his  ozvn  account.,  without  the  least 
respect  to  those  with  whom  he  stands  connected. 
This  is  his  maxim.  To  treat  intelligent  creatures  as 
in  a  state  of  complete  isolation  from  one  another, 
as  simple  units^  or  monads,  each  standing  apart,  like 
a  marble  statue  on  his  own  pedestal,  is  an  imperative 
and  eternal  law  of  divine  equity.  But  can  any 
one,  possessing  ears  and  eyes,  maintain  that  our 
world  is  thus  governed  ?  Say  it,  and  you  say  that 
there  is  not  a   man,  woman,  or  child  who  receives 


SERMONS.  89 

from  the  Supreme  Being  any  thing  like  fair  treatment. 
We  gave  examples  a  few  moments  since  of  the 
representative  principle  in  holy  Scripture ;  we  now 
say,  they  are  found  everywhere  in  human  life.  All 
owe  their  well  or  ill  being  to  causes  out  of  them- 
selves—  to  the  previous  agency  of  individuals  over 
whom  they  had  no  control,  and  by  whom  their 
earthly  destiny  was  decided  before  they  saw  the 
light.  The  health  and  happiness  of  children  depend 
on  the  behavior  of  parents.  Not  to  speak  of  the 
transmission  of  temperament  and  constitutional 
qualities,  —  which  is  a  fact  as  well  established  as  any 
in  science,  —  if  the  latter  are  rude,  and  devoted  to 
criminal  pursuits,  we  anticipate  with  confidence  ap- 
proaching to  certainty  that  the  former  will  share 
in  their  misery  and  misconduct.  The  prosperity 
of  nations  depends  on  institutions  which  originated 
ages  since  with  men  whose  very  names  are  forgotten. 
All  the  wars  and  bloodshed  which  have  turned  the 
earth  into  an  Aceldama,  may  be  traced  to  a  few 
ambitious  ruffians,  whom  Providence  permitted  to 
sway  the  destinies  of  their  fellow-creatures.  It  might 
seem  odd  to  say,  that  there  are  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands in  our  country,  suffering  at  this  hour,  and  a 
still  greater  number  prospering,  in  consequence  of 
something  done  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago,  by  a 
royal  profligate  (Charles  II.)  in  England.  But  the 
oddness  disappears  after  a  moment's  reflection. 

So  it  is.  Our  interests  are  affected  in  innumerable 
ways,  from  innumerable  quarters,  and  often  the  most 
trifling  share  in  the  agency  is  our  own.  If  you  have 
the  least  doubt  of  it,  answer  two  or  three  queries. 


90  SER3fONS. 

Who  are  you  ;  and  ivTiy  are  you  what  you  are  ?  To 
what  is  owing  your  respectable  station  in  society, 
your  literary  attainments,  your  religious  training, 
your  hopes  of  salvation,  —  everything,  in  short,  that 
makes  up  your  stock-in-hand  of  privilege  and  enjoy- 
ment ?  Doubtless  you  see  the  hand  of  God  in  the 
disposal  of  your  lot.  But  how  did  he  execute  his 
designs  ?  Through  the  instrumentality  of  others^  and 
so  entirely  that  you  dare  not.  in  a  single  particular, 
boast  of  being  the  carver  of  your  own  destiny.  The 
thought  is  humbling,  but  instructive ;  and  should 
always  be  called  up  when  we  feel  disposed  to  take  a 
little  complacency  in  our  own  virtuous  achievements. 
You  regard  with  loathing  that  bloated  ragamuffin, 
who  staggers  past  you  in  the  street,  poisoning  the  air 
with  his  pestilential  breath ;  yet  it  would  not  be 
safe  to  try  conclusions  even  with  him  on  the  score  of 
that  kind  of  merit  which  justifies  a  boast.  To  all 
you  say  for  yourself,  the  poor  loafer  could  reply  in 
the  words  of  the  gallant  Irishman,  who,  on  being 
taunted  by  an  English  soldier  because  his  army  had 
suffered  a  defeat  through  the  misconduct  of  the  leader, 
answered,  "  Give  us  your  general  for  an  hour,  and 
we'll  fight  the  battle  over  again."  Exchange  parents 
with  that  living  corruption, —  I  mean,  of  course,  sup- 
pose the  exchange,  —  and  where  would  be  that  pious 
and  fat  old  gentleman  to  whom  the  whole  community 
look  up,  —  so  happy  in  his  worldly  estate,  so  happy 
in  his  religion,  in  his  children,  and  looking  so  happy 
at  this  moment  in  his  well-cushioned  pew  ? 

Such  is  the  constitution  under  which  we  live,  —  a 
constitution  of  mutual  dependence  and  intimate  con- 


SFRMONS.  91 

nectioii.  We  are  not  separate  and  isolated  indi- 
viduals, —  single  atoms  floating  in  the  immensity  of 
the  universe,  —  but  branches  of  one  common  stock, 
members  of  one  great  body,  so  that,  if  one  suffers 
many  suffer  with  it.  It  might  have  been  otherwise. 
We  might  have  been  created  independent  of  each 
other ;  but  at  what  a  cost !  Have  yon  counted  the 
cost  ?  Society  could  not  have  existed ;  for  society 
rests  on  mutual  dependence.  There  would  have 
been  no  paternity,  no  brotherhood,  no  friendship,  no 
family,  no  sympathy,  nor  reciprocal  aid.  Man  would 
have  been  a  solitary,  sullen,  selfish  creature,  a 
stranger  to  the  joys  arising  from  the  commingling  of 
heart  with  heart  and  the  intercourse  of  congenial 
souls.  God  determined  otherwise.  He  determined 
that  we  should  be  one;  consisting,  indeed,  of  many 
parts,  but  these  parts  indissolubly  joined  together. 
With  this  view,  he  gave  us  unity  of  physical  origin, 
making  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  the  earth  ;  and,  to 
show  how  fully  he  would  carry  out  the  intention,  he 
united  us  in  the  universal  father  of  the  race,  as  our 
great  moral  head.  If  the  system  has  its  disadvan- 
tages, it,  on  the  other  hand,  works  out  inestimable 
benefits,  and  the  evils  will  be  corrected  at  the  proper 
time.  At  any  rate,  it  is  the  system,  and  let  not  the 
clay  say  to  him  that  formed  it,  "  Why  hast  thou 
made  me  thus  ?  " 

The  second  objection  which  we  propose  to  consider 
is  that  the  constitution  of  things  supposed  is  arbitrary 
and  capricious,  answering  no  valuable  ends.  "  There 
seem  no  good  reasons  for  God's  departing  from  the 
principle  of  making  responsibility  depend  on  personal 


92  SERMONS. 

agency.  What  was  gained,  by  ordaining,  that  we 
should  be  implicated  in  the  consequences  of  guilt  not 
our  own?  "  To  this  it  is  obvious  to  reply  that,  were 
the  divine  purposes  wrapt  in  impenetrable  darkness, 
it  would  be  no  argument  against  a  fact.  Far  from 
us  be  the  presumption  of  picking  flaws  in  the  work 
of  our  Creator,  or  insinuating  how  much  better  a 
system  he  would  have  contrived  had  we  been  ad- 
mitted to  his  cabinet  council,  with  our  square  and 
compasses  and  perpendicular  lines. 

But  we  are  far  from  granting  that  no  valid  reasons 
appear  why  he  chose  to  base  his  dealings  with  us  on 
the  principle  of  representation.  On  the  contrary,  we 
see  2L  fitness  in  it,  an  absolute  magnificence  of  design, 
which  attracts  our  wonder  and  praise.  Look  at  it  in 
the  two  following  aspects,  and  then  judge  whether 
we  are  sporting  paradoxes.  First,  its  efficacy  as  a 
great  moral  lesson  ;  secondly,  its  connection  with  the 
wonderful  display  of  the  divine  perfections  in  the 
plan  of  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ. 

As  to  the  first,  all  must  acknowledge  that  no  object 
can  be  conceived  more  worthy  of  the  Divine  Mind 
than  providing  intelligent  agents  with  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  motive  to  obedience.  It  will  be  allowed, 
also,  that  the  most  powerful  of  all  motives  are  those 
derived  from  the  evils  attending  disobedience.  The 
more  impressive  the  exhibition  made  on  this  subject 
by  the  lawgiver,  the  more  clearly  his  subjects  see  that 
sin  is  an  abominable,  an  infinite  evil,  —  the  greater  the 
security  that  they  will  not  yield  to  its  seductions. 
Now,  what  a  terrible  exhibition  of  its  workings  have 
we  in  the  fact  that  "  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 


SER310NS.  93 

world,  and  death  by  sin."  The  eternal  degradation 
and  punishment  of  apostate  angels  is  not  to  be  com- 
pared with  it.  Each  of  them  fell  by  his  own  personal 
delinquency.  Sin,  under  such  circumstances,  did  not 
appear  infinitely  sinful^  because  it  wrought  no  effects 
beyond  the  solitary  individual  by  whom  it  was  com- 
mitted. The  penal  consequences,  being  thus  bounded, 
could  not  teach  what  was  so  important  to  be  known, 
—  the  boundless  malignity  of  moral  evil.  But  see 
how  the  defect  is  repaired  in  God's  transactions  with 
our  race.  Here  we  discover  that  sin  is  indeed  an 
evil  thing  and  bitter.  We  see  that  one  act  of  disobe- 
dience can  ruin  not  an  individual,  but  a  worlds  and 
a  thousand  ivorlds,  if  closely  enough  connected  to  ad- 
mit a  transmission  of  the  poison.  We  should  cer- 
tainly form  awful  ideas  of  a  drug,  if  told  tliat  one 
grain  would  not  only  kill  a  man,  but  his  posterity  to 
the  remotest  generations.  Such  is  the  truth  which 
our  doctrine  teaches ;  and  who  knows  but  that  the 
peculiar  way  in  which  we  are  propagated,  by  succes- 
sion from  a  single  individual,  was  ordained  tuith  a 
vieiv  to  this  astonishing  display  ?  May  not  the  phys- 
ical law  be  only  the  established  mode  of  carrying  out 
a  far  higher  idea  which  occupied  the  Divine  Mind  ? 
Thereby  a  union  was  formed  with  the  original  head, 
which  allowed  our  participation  in  the  consequences 
of  his  probation,  and  room  was  made  for  a  decisive 
experiment  how  far  one  unholy  action  could  extend 
its  desolations.  Thus  it  is,  the  world  still  suffers  and 
groans  from  the  taste  of  a  fruit.  Six  thousand  years 
have  rolled  away ;  but  the  deadly  mischief  has  not 
abated  a  jot,  nor  will  it  as  long  as  sun  and  moon 


94  SERMONS. 

endure.  What  a  lesson  to  the  universe !  What 
solemn  and  salutary  thoughts  does  it  excite  ! 

Let  me  suggest  a  few  reflections  on  the  connection 
of  our  doctrine  with  that  of  our  redemption  by  Jesus 
Christ.  The  relations  they  sustain  to  each  other  are 
so  intimate  that  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  our  fall  in 
Adam  may  be  considered  one  of  the  most  precious 
truths  of  our  religion.  It  explains,  at  first  sight,  the 
mysterious  fact  that  God  had  mercy  on  us  in  pref- 
erence to  apostate  spirits ;  and  it  casts  a  flood  of  light 
on  the  method  he  chose  to  adopt. 

Why  did  he  pass  by  myriads  of  superior  beings, 
whose  original  transgression  was  not  greater  than 
that  of  man  ?  We  deny  not  that  there  is  sovereignty 
in  this  remarkable  discrimination ;  but  we  also  say 
there  is  adorable  wisdom  and  equity.  It  was  fit  that, 
if  any  species  of  lost  creatures  become  objects  of  for- 
giving mercy,  those  should  be  chosen  who  had  fallen 
not  by  their  own  personal  transgression,  but  the  dis- 
obedience of  another.  Justice  would  be  more  willing 
to  relax  her  claims  in  such  a  contingency ;  the  ex- 
ample of  forgiveness  would  not  operate  so  injuriously 
on  public  order  ;  and  the  holy  inhabitants  of  heaven 
would  not  be  so  much  astonished  at  the  exaltation 
of  polluted  beings  to  their  own  felicity.  Infidels 
afiect  to  deem  the  Bible  representation  very  strange 
that  the  Almighty  manifested  such  sympathy  with 
the  ills  of  our  muddy  planet,  but  felt  no  relenting  to- 
wards the  sons  of  the  morning,  who  dwelt  in  his 
immediate  presence.  Here  we  have  the  key.  Per- 
haps there  is  not  a  district  in  his  extended  empire 
under  a  constitution  rendering  it  so  yrojper  to  depart 


SERMONS.  95 

from  the  awful,  but  necessary  maxim,  "  The  soul 
that  sinneth,  it  shall  die."  There  is  no  danger, 
therefore,  that  the  example  here  set  of  pardon  will  be 
abused,  —  that  any  of  God's  moral  servants  will  flatter 
themselves  with  impunity  in  wickedness,  because 
salvation  has  been  extended  to  mankind.  They  see 
that  our  condition  is  altogether  peculiar;  in  some 
regards,  truly  pitiful.  How  deeply  must  the  thought 
affect  them,  that  when  the  Infinite  One  illustrates  his 
unbounded  mercy  in  forgiving,  he  allows  it  to  flow 
out  only  on  a  single  description  of  beings,  —  those 
miserable  by  imputed  crime. 

We  observe,  further,  that  our  doctrine  illustrates 
the  method  by  which  the  designs  of  mercy  were 
accomplished.  "  While  we  were  yet  without  strength, 
in  due  time  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly."  He  be- 
came our  sponsor,  or  representative,  assuming  our 
penal  obligations,  by  the  fulfilment  of  which  we  are 
accepted  as  righteous  before  the  divine  tribunal. 
Does  this  seem  an  extraordinary  transaction  ?  It 
might  be  thought  so  in  a  world  of  angds,  standing  on 
their  separate  personality.  But  it  is  the  very  thing  for 
us.  In  this  very  way  the  fatal  disease  entered.  "  By 
the  offence  of  one,  many  were  dead ;  by  one,  the  judg- 
ment came  upon  all  unto  condemnation ; "  and  the 
physician' resolved  to  show  his  divine  skill,  by  chang- 
ing the  poison  into  a  remedy.  The  representative 
principle  was  adopted  because  it  already  had  been 
acted  on.  God  determined  to  prove  that,  if  it  once 
wrought  fatal  evils,  it  could  be  made  the  most 
effectual  instrument  of  happiness  to  creation,  and  of 
glory  to  his  own  great  name.      Out  of  the  lion  has 


96  si:emoxs. 

come  forth  honey ;  the  bald  spot  has  been  covered 
with  a  laurel  wreath ;  the  fruit  of  the  forbidden  tree 
is  turned  into  the  balm  of  Gilead ;  our  bane  into  our 
medicine  ;  our  death  into  immortal  life.  It  is  proba- 
ble that  the  tempter  well  knew  the  connection  ex- 
isting between  Adam  and  his  future  posterity,  and 
thought,  when  the  former  yielded  to  his  seductions, 
that  he  had  achieved  a  splendid  victory.  In  imagina- 
tion, he  beheld  millions  and  millions  prostrate  at  his 
feet,  and  under  the  eternal  malediction  of  high 
Heaven  in  consequence  of  this  brilliant  coup  de  main. 
But  liow  did  God  bruise  the  head  of  the  old 
serpent,  —  how  did  he  confound  him  in  his  own 
counsels,  when  it  appeared  that  his  success  opened 
up  a  way  for  the  most  magnificent  display  of  the 
divine  perfections  that  has  been  ever  given  to  the 
universe,  and  the  restoration  of  fallen  humanity 
to  honors  far  more  exalted  than  had  been  lost !  The 
poor  fool  was  caught  in  his  own  toils,  and  became  the 
principal  agent  in  producing  that  state  of  things 
which  issued  in  his  total  overthrow  by  the  manifesta- 
tion of  God's  Son  in  the  flesh. 

See,  now,  what  a  gain  has  accrued  to  the  cause  of 
good  from  that  constitution  which  to  our  poor,  lim- 
ited understandings  seems  so  mysterious.  Had  it  not 
been  adopted,  we  have  every  reason  to  think  that  no 
place  would  have  been  found  for  God's  last  and 
crowning  work.  The  plan  of  salvation,  in  which 
more  of  the  divine  glory  appears  than  in  all  other 
works  combined,  would  never  have  been  formed,  and 
heaven  would  have  lost  its  loudest,  loftiest  anthem  : 
"  To  him  who  loved  us  and  washed  us  from  our  sins 


SERMONS.  97 

in  his  own  blood,  be  glory,  and  honor,  and  power." 
Here  we  close,  trusting  that  you  have  not  only 
received  an  impression  favorable  to  the  truth  of  our 
doctrine,  but  a  deep  conviction  of  its  value  and  im- 
portance. 

You  see  that  we  have  not  been  disinterring  for 
your  inspection  a  corpse  that  has  been  lying  six 
thousand  years  in  the  grave,  an  old  antediluvian 
fossil,  sapless  as  one  of  Ezekiel's  dry  bones,  and 
bearing  no  relation  to  the  system  under  which  we 
live.  It  is  a  truth  of  fleshy  blood,  and  sinews,  all 
palpitating  with  the  spirit  of  life,  and  immediately 
affecting  your  Christian  privileges  and  prospects: 
In  all  essential  features  the  two  great  economies  of 
sin  and  redemption  correspond  to  each  other,  and 
illustrate  the  sublime  unity  of  idea  which  pervades 
the  government  of  God.  The  whole  of  the  chapter 
from  which  our  text  is  taken  shows  how  entirely  the 
soul  of  the  great  apostle  Paul  was  penetrated  with 
this  thought.  He  presses  it,  iterates  and  reiterates 
it  with  endless  variety  of  expression :  "By  one  man 
sin  entered  into  the  world.''  This  explains,  too,  why 
the  orthodox,  as  they  are  called,  have  always  con- 
tended for  our  doctrine  as  a  cardinal  article  of  faith. 
They  instinctively  felt  that  it  was  needed  to  explain 
the  deep  and  universal  apostasy  of  human  nature, 
which,  wanting  this  historical  support,  lay  open  to 
many  perplexing  questions.  But,  more  than  all,  its 
momentous  bearing  on  the  only  foundation  of  their 
eternal  hope  made  them  jealous  over  it  with  a  godly 
jealousy.  Experience  proves  that  the  sensitiveness 
is  well  grounded ;  for  the  fact  admits  not  a  doubt  that 


98  SERMONS. 

the  arguments  employed  against  our  fall  in  Adam  aim 
a  deadly  blow  at  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  Him  who 
hung  upon  the  tree. 

Let  us  improve  the  subject  to  the  confirmation  of 
our  faith  in  the  gospel.  Let  us  thankfully  accept 
the  mediation  of  that  glorious  second  Adam,  who,  by 
his  spotless  merit,  restored  that  which  he  took  not 
away  ;  "  more  than  repairing  the  evils  occasioned  by 
the  first."  How  foolish  to  spend  our  precious  hours  in 
cavilling  at  the  constitution  of  things,  which  brought 
disaster,  while  one  is  offering  itself  to  our  acceptance 
fraught  with  immortal  blessing!  You  do  not  like 
your  connection  with  the  first  parent.  Well,  who 
asks  you  to  like  it  ?  God  does  not.  As  if  in  kind 
anticipation  of  your  dislike,  he  has  given  you  another. 
Detach  yourself  from  it  this  very  day,  this  moment. 
Cut  loose  from  that  barren  stock,  whose  branches 
yield  only  thorns  and  briars,  and  be  united  to  the 
living  vine.  Of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil  you  have  had  more  than  enough.  "  Behold  the 
tree  of  life  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God, 
bearing  all  manner  of  precious  fruits,  and  whose 
leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations." 


The  Blessing  obtained  by  Fraud, 


V. 

THE  BLESSING   OBTAINED  BY  FRAUD. 


Genesis  27  :  35.     g^ixb  Ijb  saib,  S^bg  brd!^tr  cmnt  foitl^  sublillg,  anb  l^atb 
taken  afoag  t^g  l^Ussing. 


N  many  parts  of  biblical  history,  you  perceive 
that  the  sacred  penman  contents  himself  with 
relating  facts,  unaccompanied  by  any  com- 
mentary of  his  own ;  in  this  respect  differing 
from  the  modern  historian,  who  usually  expresses 
his  judgment  on  the  record,  intersperses  reflections, 
moral,  philosophical,  or  political,  and  thus  succeeds  in 
displaying  himself  as  well  as  his  subject.  This  almost 
bald  simplicity  of  the  ancient  writers  may  be  attended 
with  either  good  or  evil  results.  The  good  are  these, 
—  that  we  are  led  to  think  out  the  matter  for  our- 
selves, and  are  compelled,  in  so  doing,  to  increase 
the  diligence  and  accuracy  of  our  examination.  More 
is  left  to  our  own  intelligence,  which  by  this  exercise 
is  sharpened  and  invigorated.  An  evil  consequence 
is  the  danger  of  approving  the  actions  of  good  men 
in  every  case  where  the  historian  has  not  marked 
them  with  an  express  and  emphatic  note  of  disap- 
probation. 

The  paragraph  just  read,  narrating  how  Jacob  ob- 
tained the  blessing  by  fraud  and  subtilty  from  his 
father,  is  a  striking  instance  of  this.     No  censure  is 


102  SERMONS. 

passed  upon  it  by  the  inspired  historian,  and  an  in- 
advertent reader  might  view  it  only  in  the  light  of  a 
juvenile  prank,  displaying  considerable  ingenuity  of 
contrivance  and  dexterity  of  execution.  But  a  little 
close  attention  will  correct  the  idea.  The  writer 
does  not  stop  to  descant  on  the  guilt  of  Jacob,  or 
treat  the  reader  with  sage  moralities.  Yet  the  subse- 
quent history  plainly  discovers  a  just  Providence  pun- 
ishing his  sin,  and  reads  to  us  a  lesson  as  impressive 
as  if  the  words  were  written  at  the  close  of  every 
sentence,  "  See  the  baneful  effects  of  fraud  and  false- 
hood." Let  us  attend  to  the  story  with  a  view  of 
gathering  up  some  of  its  practical  teachings. 

We  find,  in  the  twenty -fifth  chapter  of  Genesis,  that 
Esau  and  Jacob  were  twin-brothers,  concerning  whom, 
in  answer  to  the  inquiries  of  Rebecca,  their  mother,  God 
declared  that  "  the  elder  should  serve  the  younger;" 
which  was  remarkably  fulfilled  in  their  posterity, 
many  years  after.  Mark  here,  that  it  may  please 
God  to  announce,  beforehand,  events  which  are 
locked  up  in  tlie  mysterious  future  ;  but  it  must  not 
therefore  please  us  to  procure  by  crooked  and  im- 
proper means  the  accomplishment  of  the  oracle.  He 
does  not  give  prophecy  as  a  chart  for  direction,  —  in 
jfr^-^-.^  other  words,  as  a  rule  of  monarch  conduct.  His  pur- 
poses shall  be  accomplished  in  his  own  time  and 
manner.  But  this  is  his  own  affair.  He  addresses 
us  in  one  unvarying  strain,  "  What  doth  the  Lord 
thy  God  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  love  mercy, 
and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ?  " 

As  tlie  brothers  grew  up,  we  read  that  Esau  was  a 
skilful  hunter  —  a  man  of  the  field  ;  but  that  Jacob 


SERMONS.  103 

was  a  plain  man,  that  is,  of  a  quiet  and  domestic 
turn,  dwelling  in  tents.  Isaac,  it  is  further  narrated 
by  the  historian,  in  his  beautiful,  naive,  and  simple 
waj,  "  loved  Esau  because  he  did  eat  of  his  venison : 
but  Rebecca  loved  Jacob."  Most  true  is  it,  that  the 
foundation  of  the  most  serious  errors  in  life  are  often 
laid  at  a  very  early  period.  "  The  entire  man,"  as  a 
great  writer  observes  (Tocqueville) ,  "  is  to  be  seen 
in  the  cradle  of  the  child."  Parents  are  sadly  dis- 
appointed in  their  offspring,  and  troubled  till  their 
dying  day,  through  a  cause  which  they  little  suspect. 
They  complain  of  their  children,  when  perhaps  the 
children  may  have  far  more  reason  to  complain  of 
them.  They  have  indulged  an  early  partiality,  based 
on  no  just  reasons,  which  has  been  productive,  on 
each  side,  of  the  worst  effects.  There  is  but  one 
true  ground  of  preference  with  respect  to  children, 
namely,  that  of  real  moral  worth.  Isaac  and  Re- 
becca thought,  or  at  least  acted,  otherwise.  Much 
of  their  unhappiness  in  the  world,  and  the  family  dis- 
cord which  produced  it,  were  referable  to  foolish  pref- 
erences founded  on  points  of  difference  almost  ridicu- 
lously trifling.  Isaac  loved  Esau  because  he  had  a 
sweet  tooth  to  Esau's  savory  game  ;  Rebecca,  Jacob, 
because  his  temper  and  habits  led  him  to  be  much 
with  her  in  the  house.  The  one  was  mother's  pet ; 
the  other,  father's  darling.  When  will  good  men 
and  women  learn  to  watch  their  prejudices,  their 
caprices,  and  their  passions  ? 

We  approach,  now,  a  transaction  circumstantially 
related  in  the  chapter  under  our  notice.  Jacob 
comes  "  with  subtilty  "  and  obtains  the  blessing  from 


104  SERMONH. 

Esau.  The  pious  father  was  at  this  time  far  ad- 
vanced ill  life,  being  more  than  a  hundred  years  old, 
and  his  eyes  were  dim  so  that  he  could  not  see.  Un- 
certain how  soon  his  death  might  take  place,  he 
determined  on  giving  his  solemn  and  prophetic  bless- 
ing to  the  eldest  son.  His  wife,  —  a  woman  of  re- 
markable shrewdness,  abounding,  if  not  in  wisdom, 
at  least  in  mother-wit,  and,  as  is  usual  with  such, 
was  always  about,  —  hears  him  express  his  intention, 
and  all  her  feelings  in  behalf  of  mother's  own  boy 
are  called  forth  with  painful  intensity.  Hitherto  her 
partiality  had,  we  may  suppose,  displayed  itself  in 
trifles,  though  often  producing  mischief.  Now,  how- 
ever, when  a  special  temptation  occurred,  —  a  crisis, 
as  she  thought,  either  for  good  or  evil  in  his  destiny, 
—  she  proceeds  to  work  out  a  favorable  issue  at 
the  expense  of  truth,  justice,  honor,  and  common 
honesty.  We  are  to  judge  of  the  evil  of  our  pas- 
sions, not  by  the  effects  they  have  actually  produced 
at  ordinary  times,  but  by  those  which  may  be  de- 
veloped. The  cockatrice  in  Rebecca's  bosom  began 
now  to  hatch  an  egg  of  respectable  dimensions.  It 
was  obviously  her  duty  to  leave  in  the  hands  of  the 
great  Disposer  of  events  the  fulfilment  of  his  own 
pledges.  But  she  persuaded  herself  that  the  decisive 
hour  was  come.  Now  or  never.  In  half  an  hour 
Isaac  would  give  the  blessing  to  that  ungainly  red- 
beard,  who  would  never  sit  with  her  in  the  house, 
and  poor,  dear,  dutiful  Jacob  would  be  nowhere. 
What  shall  she  do  ?  Not  a  moment  must  be  lost. 
The  divine  purpose  to  give  the  latter  superiority 
would,   she    thought,   excuse   a    certain    degree  of 


SERMONS.  105 

finesse.  She  meant  to  further  the  scheme  of  Provi- 
dence, to  help  the  Lord  out  of  a  serious  nonplus  and 
quandary.  But  she  forgot  that  the  divine  intentions 
are  no  criterion  of  moral  obligation,  and  that  God 
may  as  severely  punish  the  man  who  executes,  as  the 
man  who  opposes  his  will,  if  each  is  alike  acting  in 
his  own  spirit,  and  pursuing  his  own  ends.  There 
is  something  truly  curious  in  this  exemplification  at 
so  early  a  period  of  the  "  manifest-destiny "  scheme 
of  morality,  which  has  wrought  so  much  evil  in 
society. 

To  resume  the  narrative :  our  heroine,  having 
formed  her  plan,  imparts  it  to  Jacob.  Naturally,  like 
an  affectionate  child,  he  falls  in  with  it.  Scruples 
would  indeed  obtrude  at  the  first  presentation  of  the 
infamous  project ;  but  interest,  that  golden  bribe, 
whose  seductions  so  few  withstand,  would  plead  irre- 
sistibly on  the  other  side  of  the  question.  How  awfully 
does  selfish  greed  pervert  the  judgment,  and  palliate 
the  worst  actions  !  His  scruples  not  being  obviated 
at  once,  his  mother  is  not  afraid  to  urge  him  on  by 
a  speech  of  singularly  bold  profanity :  "  Upon  me  be 
the  curse,  my  son,  only  obey  my  voice."  What  a 
position  this  for  a  mother !  We  see  her  in  circum- 
stances humiliating  indeed  !  Playing  devil  to  her 
own  child ;  urging  him  to  a  vile  fraud  on  his  dying 
father  and  perfidy  to  his  brother,  and  using  all  her 
maternal  authority  to  ensure  compliance :  "  Upon 
me  he  the  curse.'''*  She  little  thought  of  the  meaning 
in  these  awful  words  at  the  time  ;  but  in  due  season 
it  was  effectually  brought  home  to  her.  Cursing  is  a 
poor  trade  at  best,  and  the  dealer  in  it  seldom  thrives, 


106  SERMONS. 

whether  it  is  directed  against  others  or  himself. 
Usually,  like  the  chickens,  it  comes  home  to  roost. 
Prepared  by  maternal  instruction,  he  goes  in,  dis- 
guised, to  his  father.  Here,  we  soon  discover  that 
sins  are  seldom  solitary,  and  one  transgression,  by 
a  natural  propagative  virtue,  begets  a  whole  family. 
He  adds  hypocrisy  to  fraud,  and  palpable  lying  to 
deceit.  "  How,"  asked  the  old  man,  "  is  it  that  thou 
hast  found  the  venison  so  quickly  ?  "  and  Jacob  said, 
"  Because  the  Lord  thy  God  brought  it  to  me."  How 
shocking  does  wickedness  appear  arrayed  in  the 
garb,  and  using  the  language,  of  religion  !  The 
young  villain  is  not  satisfied  with  casting  dirt  on 
the  gray  hairs  of  his  earthly  parent,  but  he  must 
lie,  unblushingly,  to  his  Father  in  heaven.  He 
carries  through  the  business  with  a  great  display  of 
piety,  —  looking  devoutly  up  to  the  skies,  and  prais- 
ing the  Lord  for  his  goodness  in  sending  him  a  fine, 
noble  deer  so  quickly.  Oh,  the  contemptible  sneak 
toward  a  poor,  blind  old  man  ;  but  impudent,  brazen- 
faced bully  to  his  God !  It  may  be  thought  strange 
that  his  fraud  should  be  accompanied  with  so  need- 
less an  aggravation  as  amounted  to  absolute  blas- 
phemy. But  it  is  not  unnatural.  When  a  man  has 
fairly  made  up  his  mind  to  play  the  knave,  he  often 
finds  it  quite  convenient  to  play  the  blasphemer  also  ; 
endeavoring,  by  solemn  grimace  and  a  hypocritical 
parade  of  devout  words,  to  inspire  confidence.  Hence 
the  remark  frequently  made,  and  containing  some 
truth,  that  there  are  persons  against  whom  we  should 
never  be  so  carefully  on  our  guard,  as  when  they 
begin  to  look  sentimental,  and  to  talk  religion.     The 


SEE3I0NS.  107 

principal  use  these  people  make  of  the  Almighty  is 
to  cheat  hy  him. 

Hastening  to  the  conclusion,  without  enlarging  on 
the  dexterity  with  which  the  smooth-skinned  young 
impostor  counterfeited  his  brother's  natural  shag,  we 
find  the  whole  scheme  succeeding  to  a  marvel.  De- 
ceit, falsehood,  and  profanity  obtained  the  blessing. 
But  short  is  the  triumph  of  injustice.  While  the 
patriarch's  benediction  was  yet  sounding  in  Jacob's 
ear,  the  fear  of  the  approach  of  Esau,  the  stings  of 
a  guilty  conscience,  and  the  apprehension  of  conse- 
quences taught  him  how  like  a  fool  he  had  acted,  with 
all  his  scheming  and  worldly  shrewdness.  He,  more- 
over, soon  discovers  that  his  success  will  embitter 
not  only  the  whole  of  his  own  life,  but  that  of  his 
parents.  The  contriver  of  the  fraud  was  deprived  of 
her  favorite  child  for  the  remainder  of  her  days. 
She  never  saw  him  again  !  Instead  of  being  the  stay 
and  consolation  of  her  declining  years,  he  was  a 
stranger  in  a  foreign  land,  banished  from  home  by 
means  of  an  act  of  sin.  How  unblessed  the  blessing 
which  it  cost  so  much  to  obtain !  Instead  of  the 
elder  serving  the  younger,  the  latter  is  a  poor,  wan- 
dering exile,  in  constant  terror  of  his  brother.  In 
all  places,  and  at  every  moment,  he  feared  to  en- 
counter him ;  and  not  only  so,  but  at  every  step  he 
is  pursued  by  the  retributive  justice  of  Providence. 
Mark  this  :  first,  he  who  had  imposed  upon  his 
father,  was  himself  imposed  upon  by  his  imcle  La- 
bari  in  the  circumstances  of  his  marriage.  Next, 
the  jealousies  and  variance  of  his  wives,  Leah  and 
Rachel,  with  their  eternal  jangles,  must  have   re- 


108  SERMONS. 

minded  him  forcibly  of  his  own  want  of  brotherly 
affection.  In  addition,  continual  feuds  prevailed 
among  his  children  ;  and  he  who  was  most  loved 
by  the  father,  was  hated  by  the  rest.  At  last,  he 
was  the  dupe  of  an  imposture  more  successful  than 
his  own.  Joseph,  his  beloved,  was  sold  by  his  brethren 
into  bondage,  and  reported  to  be  slain  by  a  wild 
beast.  When,  at  a  later  period,  he  found  out  the 
trick  —  oh  !  did  he  not  think  of  the  venison  and  the 
unfortunate  Esau  ?  In  a  word,  his  life  was  one  long 
misfortune,  an  almost  unvarying  scene  of  domestic 
trouble  and  vexation,  which  had  their  origin,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  ^n  this  most  unhappy  step.  At 
the  close  of  life,  he  is  heard  exclaiming  :  "  Few  and 
evil  have  been  my  days,"  and  he  might  have  added 
"  I  am  a  melancholy  example  of  deviating  in  life's 
early  morning  from  the  path  of  simplicity  and  virtue." 

On  the  history  brought  under  review,  we  offer  the 
following  reflections :  — 

1.  Many  of  the  most  serious  evils  in  life  must 
be  traced  to  parental  mismanagement.  This  topic 
has  been  already  alluded  to;  but  it  deserves  more 
formal  notice,  because  it  is  not  sufficiently  appre- 
ciated. There  are  apparently  so  many  ways  of  ex- 
plaining the  sins  and  unhappiness  which  prevail, 
without  one's  obtruding  himself  into  the  domestic 
circle  in  search  of  causes,  that  we  are  apt  practically 
to  ignore  its  agency  in  the  formation  of  either 
worthy  or  unworthy  character;  and  yet,  slight  re- 
flection will  convince  us  that  the  mightiest  of  all 
engines,  both  for  good  and  evil,  is  at  the  hearthstone. 
In  truth,  the  responsibility  of  parents  is  immense, 


SERMONS.  109 

and  not  to  be  estimated.  On  their  conduct  and  ex- 
ample, we  do  not  scruple  to  affirm,  is  depending, 
in  a  good  degree,  the  destiny  of  all  committed  to 
their  charge.  None  of  us  need  to  be  reminded  of 
two  venerable  maxims  constantly  quoted,  even  by 
those  who  can  quote  nothing  else,  "  The  child  is 
father  of  the  man,"  and  "  Just  as  the  twig  is  bent, 
the  tree's  inclined."  The  habits  engendered  in  in- 
fancy and  youth,  are  far  the  most  permanent,  and 
carried  from  the  nursery  into  active  life.  It  is  then 
only,  if  formed  badly,  we  see  the  mischief  that  has 
been  done.  Now,  if  parents,  instead  of  directing 
their  endeavors  to  root  out  the  germs  of  vice  and 
misery,  so  thickly  planted  in  the  heart  as  if  by  the 
hand  of  nature,  rather  make  it  a  business  to  cultivate 
and  mature  them,  turning  the  family  bosom  into 
a  hot-bed  for  the  ignoble  purpose ;  —  are  they  not 
acting  the  part  of  murderers  before  God,  chargeable 
for  all  the  disorder  and  wretchedness  which  are 
the  consequence  ?  Let  me  give  a  specification  or  two. 
I  suppose  one  of  you  to  be  the  father  of  a  numer- 
ous family ;  unhappily,  you  have  fixed  special  re- 
gard on  a  certain  member  of  it,  who,  in  consequence, 
grows  up  pampered  with  vanity  and  self-conceit, 
is  haughty  to  his  equals,  arrogant  to  his  inferiors 
as  to  social  position,  and  odious  to  all  with  whom 
he  has  intercourse,  by  his  intolerable  egotism.  But 
are  not  these  dispositions  the  source  of  most  of  the 
unhappiness  that  prevails  in  the  world  ?  and  can  you 
expect  that,  after  liaving  made  it  your  study  to  plant 
them  firm  and  deep  in  the  heart  of  the  boi/,  they  will 
cease  to  trouble  the  man,  and  make  him  a  trouble 

10 


110  SERMONS. 

and  pest  to  others  ?  Will  the  pettishness,  insolence, 
revengeful  temper,  selfishness,  and  ungovernable  will, 
which  your  constant  indulgence  has  nurtured,  take 
wings  and  fly  away  at  the  moment  he  leaves  the 
paternal  mansion  ?  If  you  think  so,  you  know  too 
little  to  be  a  parent.  The  last  occupation  you  are 
fit  for  is  begetting  sons  and  daughters.  His  bad 
propensities  will  continue  with  him  as  sure  as  there 
is  a  God  in  heaven.  He,  whom  you  made  vain,  un- 
feeling, passionate,  overbearing,  under  your  roof, 
will  be  vain,  unfeeling,  passionate,  and  overbearing 
under  all  other  roofs;  and  before  you  die  you  may 
hear  him  curse  you  for  making  his  coffin ;  or,  possibly, 
your  system  of  favoritism  may  operate  exactly  as 
it  did  in  the  case  of  Isaac  and  Rebecca,  —  produc- 
ing jealousy,  and  contention  among  your  children : 
Jacob  opposing  himself  to  Esau  by  cunning,  backed 
by  the  strong  head-piece  of  his  mother,  and  Esau 
opposing  himself  to  Jacob  by  superior  strength, 
receiving  what  assistance  could  be  rendered  from  his 
honest,  but  weak  old  father.  Thus,  training  them 
up  to  savageness  and  contempt  for  the  tenderest 
bonds,  I  ask  again,  do  you  think  that  when  fairly 
launched  on  the  tide  of  life  all  this  will  be  left 
behind,  and  they  will  start  up  models  of  peaceable- 
ness,  meekness,  and  kind  affection  in  their  inter- 
course with  those  about  them  ?  It  cannot  be.  You 
have  sowed  seeds  which  cannot  be  eradicated.  If 
they  do  not  ripen  into  a  harvest  of  sin  and  suffering, 
thank  not  yourself,  but  the  restraining  grace  of  God. 
I  have  dwelt  principally  on  these  suppositions, — on 
the  one  infirmity  of  parental  favoritisin^  —  because  it 


SERMONS.  Ill 

is  the  prominent  feature  of  the  case  narrated  in  our 
text.  But  there  are  legions  of  others  which  have  a 
fatal  influence  on  the  destiny  of  children.  Take  heed, 
then,  how  you  discharge  the  important  obligation 
resting  on  you  as  heads  of  families.  The  life  of 
your  children  is  bound  up  in  you.  God  only  knows 
what  may  be  the  effect  of  a  single  error  ! 

2.  This  history  calls  our  attention  to  the  important 
maxim,  that  no  end,  however  good,  will  sanction  bad 
ways  of  accomplishing  it.  Jacob  had  the  fullest 
reason  to  believe  that  God  had  ordained  him  heir  of 
the  prophetic  benediction.  He  did  not  sin  in  desiring 
that  the  decree  should  be  fulfilled,  nor  would  he 
have  sinned  in  endeavoring  to  compass  the  fulfil- 
ment, if  he  had  done  so  in  an  honorable  and  pious 
manner.  But,  unhappily,  he  persuaded  himself,  as  I 
have  said,  that  the  decree  was  the  rule  of  his  duty., 
and  authorized  any  measures  that  would  prove  suc- 
cessful. The  holy  God,  in  no  case,  permits  his 
creatures  to  trespass  on  the  eternal  canons  he  has 
given  them  for  their  direction.  He  may,  oftentimes, 
from  sin  and  disobedience,  raise  to  himself  a  revenue 
of  praise,  procuring  invaluable  benefits  to  the  church 
and  the  world.  But  this  is  no  justification  of  the 
instrument.  The  murder  of  Jesus  conferred  the 
most  illustrious  benefit  on  the  world  that  the  world 
has  ever  received.  But  this  did  not  excuse  the 
wretches  by  whom  the  bloody  tragedy  was  enacted. 
We  have  a  law.,  holy,  just,  and  good ;  and  rigid 
obedience  to  this  is  both  our  duty  and  our  interest. 
The  man  who  commits  an  outrage  on  it,  under  pre- 
tence  of  good  intentions,   pollutes  himself  with   a 


112  SERMONS. 

double  guilt.  First,  he  breaks  the  rule  of  life,  and, 
secondly,  he  adds  to  this  the  foul  crime  of  hypocrisy 
and  profanation  in  holy  things.  Were  I  called  to  point 
out  the  greatest  abomination,  as  well  as  meanness, 
that  has  ever  disgraced  civilization  and  nominal 
Christianity,  I  would,  unquestionably,  name  that 
system  of  pious  frauds,  as  they  were  called,  which 
was  adopted  in  the  early  times  of  the  church,  and  is 
not  yet  entirely  extinct. 

I  am  aware  that  certain  cases  are  supposed,  by 
a  certain  class  of  ethical  writers,  not  remarkable  for 
the  strictness  of  their  principles,  with  the  view  of 
showing  that  it  is  sometimes  lawful  to  commit  un- 
lawful deeds  in  consideration  of  the  end.  Thus,  we 
may  sometimes  tell  a  lie :  to  the  madman,  for  in-- 
stance,  in  order  to  his  preservation;  to  the  robber, 
who  has  received  your  promise  that  on  condition 
of  being  released,  you  will  transmit  a  sum  of 
money;  to  a  man  pursuing  with  deadly  intent  an 
enemy,  that  he  may  be  put  on  a  false  scent,  and 
not  discover  his  victim,  etc.  See,  now,  what  these 
casuists  do.  To  establish  a  foul  and  most  pernicious 
principle,  which,  in  its  practical  working,  overturns 
the  whole  structure  of  moral  obligation,  they  bring  up 
certain  extreme  suppositions,  which,  like  earthquakes, 
deluges,  and  volcanic  eruptions,  are  not  realized 
thrice  in  a  generation,  or  perhaps  a  century.  In  this 
way,  there  is  no  misconduct  so  vile  that  it  cannot  be 
glozed  over  by  a  third-rate  advocate.  Rapine,  mur- 
der, treason,  perjury,  —  everything,  in  short,  that  ex- 
cites horror  in  a  virtuous  mind,  —  can  be,  and  has 
been  transformed  by  the  villanous  plea  of  necessity  into 


SERMONS.  113 

positive  virtues ;  or,  at  least,  harmless  peccadilloes. 
Take  an  example  out  of  modern  history.  When 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  carried  on  his  campaigns  in 
Egypt,  he  took  the  city  of  Jaffa,  —  the  garrison  of 
Turks,  who  had  defended  it  (nearly  five  thousand  in 
number),  surrendering  their  arms  on  the  express  con- 
dition, formally  accepted,  of  receiving  quarter  and 
good  treatment.  Napoleon's  army  was  not  at  that 
time  very  amply  provisioned,  though  not  suffering. 
It  was  not  thought  convenient  to  feed  so  many  useless 
mouths,  nor  was  it  deemed  wise  to  let  the  poor 
wretches  run.  For  these  reasons  he  determined,  four 
days  after  they  were  taken,  and  when  the  heated 
blood  of  his  soldiers  had  become  perfectly  cool,  to 
massacre  them  all ;  and  the  thing  wm  done.  Nearly 
five  thousand  helpless  prisoners  were,  on  the  fifth 
morning,  taken  out  into  the  field  and  slaughtered  as 
they  stood,  by  volleys  of  musketry,  continued  for 
three  hours,  until  not  one  was  left  alive.  Every  man 
was  basely,  brutally,  devilishly  murdered,— resistance 
being  impossible,  because,  relying  on  Christian  honor, 
they  had  not  only  given  up  their  arms,  but  sub- 
mitted, not  dreaming  of  danger,  to  have  their  hands 
confined  with  ropes  behind  their  backs.  Yet,  such  is 
the  besotting  influence  of  hero-worship  on  weak 
minds,  that  a  reverend  scribbler,  in  one  of  our  fash- 
ionable magazines,  came  out  not  long  since,  the  un- 
blushing justifier  of  the  whole  transaction,  —  denying 
not  one  of  the  facts^  but  pathetically  appealing  to  the 
ugly  gash  which  five  thousand  live  Turks  would  have 
made  in  the  Frenchmen's  rations.  I  must  observe, 
however,  that,  in  this  horrible   atrocity,   there   was 

10* 


114  SERMONS. 

exliibited  no  peculiar,  and  hitherto  unknown  principle 
of  evil.  If  necessity  justifies  fraud  and  falsehood,  or 
any  other  violation  of  the  rule  of  right,  it  may  be 
adduced  to  varnish  over  the  infernal  butchery  of 
Jaffa.  Let  us  spit  upon  such  Jesuitical  morality. 
Let  us  firmly  believe  that  no  plea  will  hold  valid 
before  the  tribunal  for  overstepping  the  line  of  recti- 
tude ;  and  as  to  the  cases  of  imagined  exception,  let 
us  hope  that  a  benignant  Providence  will  never  ex- 
pose us  to  the  fatal  necessity  of  sinning.  If  it  is 
doomed  that  such  an  evil  day  shall  come  (the  most 
unlikely  of  all  events),  let  us  wait  for  ity  and  not 
establish  beforehand  an  ungodly  casuistry.  If  any 
still  urge  that  our  doctrine,  though  a  noble  one, 
does  not  make  sufficient  provision  against  the  possi- 
bility of  finding  ourselves,  some  unlucky  morning, 
in  a  tight  place,  I  reply  as  before,  you  have  no 
more  right  to  calculate  on  one  of  these  tight  places 
and  unlucky  mornings,  than  the  girl  found  by  her 
mother  sobbing  in  an  agony  of  distress  at  the  thought 
of  the  baby's  climbing  up  into  the  heated  oven ;  in 
which  case,  what  should  she  do  to  anticipate  such 
an  occurrence  ?  "  Sufficient  for  the  day  is  the  evil 
thereof,"  especially  as  God's  providence  is  so  ar- 
ranged, that  the  evil  day  seldom  comes.  But  should 
it  come  ?  Well,  all  we  say  is,  that  our  Father  is 
merciful.  In  the  hour  of  extremity,  when  an 
avalanche  of  calamity  is  rushing,  thundering  down 
upon  us  which  we  can  escape  only  by  turning  a  cor- 
ner,-^ in  other  words,  by  fraud,  or  some  other  tamper- 
ing with  the  canons  of  eternal  truth,  —  he  will  doubt- 
less make  due  allowance   for   the   infirmity  of  his 


SERMONS.  tX5i 

creature.  There  are  moral  tornadoes  which  carry  a 
man  fairly  off  his  feet,  in  the  midst  of  which  law  is 
silent,  because  she  knows  that  mortal  strength  is 
unable  to  withstand  them.  But  shame  on  those  who 
turn  exceptions  into  rules,  and,  in  view  of  such 
remote  probabilities,  familiarize  their  minds  with  the 
abominable  maxim  of  doing  evil  that  good  may  come. 
The  apostle  cries  more  than  "  shame  "  upon  them ; 
he  says,  that  "  their  damnation  is  just." 

3.  Our  history  illustrates  the  prolific  nature  of  sin. 
Jacob,  when  he  approached  his  father,  intended  to 
play  duminy,  and  merely  stand  up  in  the  disguise 
of  Esau.  But  he  is  not  let  off  so  easily ;  he  soon 
finds  that  he  has  placed  himself  in  a  situation  where 
sin  must  be  added  to  sin,  lie  to  lie,  and  the  whole 
crowned  with  the  most  shocking  profanity.  Thus  it 
usually  happens.  The  commission  of  one  crime  makes 
another  necessary  in  order  to  supply  what  is  lacking 
in  the  first.  Thus  the  evil-doer  finds  himself  by  one 
deviation  from  duty  drawn  into  more  than  he  ever 
thought  of.  There  is  an  old  adage  to  this  purport, 
that  misfortunes  never  come  alone  ;  but  it  holds  much 
more  true  of  sins.  They  are  a  needy  and  numerous 
family.  Open  the  heart  to  one  of  them :  they  will 
gradually  introduce  each  other  till  nearly  all  obtain 
the  right  of  citizenship.  Look  at  that  unfortunate 
creature  with  glass  in  hand.  He  thinks  only  of  for- 
getting his  cares  and  enjoying  with  a  few  comrades  an 
hour  of  harmless  glee.  But  does  he  look  forward  to 
the  possible  issue  ?  Does  he  know  what  secrets  he 
may  betray  ;  in  what  sensual  abominations  he  may 
fall ;    what  blasphemies   he   may  belch ;   into  what 


116  SERMONS. 

quarrels  he  may  be  hurried,  bringing  the  most  awful 
consequences  upon  himself  and  others  ?  Does  he 
know  that  when,  on  the  next  morning  he  awakes  from 
his  orgies,  he  will  find  at  his  side  a  dead  wife  and 
child,  perhaps,  victims  to  the  madness  that  had  come 
over  him,  —  not  by  one  of  those  mysterious  dispensa- 
tions which  excite  not  less  our  pity  than  our  horror, 
because  independent  of  human  will, —  but  by  his  own 
voluntary  agency  ? 

Or  take  the  murderer  on  the  highway.  First,  he 
mingled  with  light  and  riotous  company.  Squander- 
ing his  resources,  he  commenced  secret  encroachments 
on  the  property  of  others.  Detected  here,  he  rohs, 
and  robbery  ends  in  blood.  View  him  just  before  this 
dreadful  consummation.  Perhaps,  on  the  morning  of 
the  day  when  he  committed  it,  the  idea  of  such  a  deed 
never  entered  his  heart.  Pecuniary  embarrassment 
induces  him  to  make  an  essay  of  force  upon  a  trav- 
eller's purse.  He  goes  out  for  the  purpose,  designing 
only  to  frighten  the  man  a  little,  and  return  with  his 
booty  to  lead  a  reputable  life.  He  has  hardly  made 
up  his  mind  to  put  a  bullet  in  the  pistol,  but  on  the 
whole  thinks  it  best.  Oh,  for  a  warning  voice  to 
point  out  the  horror  that  awaits  him, —  to  tell  him  how 
much  deeper  than  he  dreams,  he  is  going  to  plunge 
into  a  hell  of  crime.  Unexpected  resistance  exas- 
perates his  passions,  takes  away  his  self-command, 
blinds  to  consequences,  and  before  he  is  aware  — 
clich  —  the  deed  is  done.     He  is  a  murderer  ! 

We  have  probably  read  the  monkish  legend  of 
Satan's  appearing  to  a  pious  hermit  whom  he  had 
long  tormented  with  his  fiery  darts  of  temptation, 


SEB3I0NS.  117 

and  promising  that  if  he  would  consent  to  perpetrate 
one  single  offence,  which  he  would  name,  he  would 
never  trouble  him  more.  The  hermit  agreed  to  the 
bargain,  and  option  was  given  him  of  committing  the 
sin  of  murder,  adultery,  or  drunkenness.  He  chose 
the  latter,  considering  drunkenness  the  most  venial. 
But  mark  the  issue  !  When  that  sin  was  upon  him, 
he  perpetrated  both  the  others  !  This  little  story  has  a 
profound  significance.  It  illustrates  the  progressive 
and  self-multiplying  nature  of  transgression.  Think 
you  that  before  the  commission  of  those  enormous 
frauds  which  we  read  of  so  often  in  the  public  prints, 
our  ears  tingling  during  the  perusal,  that  no  previous 
steps  had  been  taken  which,  by  an  almost  fatal  neces- 
sity, determined  the  final  catastrophe  ?  We  know  the 
contrary.  We  know  that  the  first  acts  of  peculation 
were  so  slight,  that  it  needed  some  sternness  to  pass 
a  vehement  censure  on  them.  Ah  !  had  they  only 
stopped  there,  we  are  ready  in  our  good  nature  to  ex- 
claim, and  would  exclaim  (if  reflection  did  not  step 
in  and  break  off  our  pretty  sentence  short  in  the  mid- 
dle) ,  by  reminding  us  that  they  could  not  stop  more 
than  Jacob  in  the  midst  of  his  lying.  Having  taken 
the  slide  they  were  hound  for  the  bottom.  Fraud  must 
be  covered  over  by  fraud.  Forgery  must  be  protected 
by  endless  repetition,  till  some  day  their  whole  struc- 
ture of  villany  explodes  at  once,  and  they  are  driven 
with  execration  from  the  society  of  men.  So  true  is 
the  proverb,  "  It  is  the  first  step  that  costs."  Could 
we  accurately  trace  the  genealogy  of  events,  we  should 
often  discover  that  the  convicted  felon's  miserable 
fate  has  its  origin,  not  so  much  in  the  enormity  which 


118  SERMONS. 

has  been  detected  and  excites  universal  detestation,  as 
in  the  paltry  shilling  which,  years  before,  when  a 
simple  boy,  he  had  filched  from  his  employer's  till. 

4.  And  this  leads  me  to  remark  that  the  sins  of 
youth  have  often  a  long  and  lasting  influence.  Jacob, 
when  he  wronged  his  father  and  brother,  was  a  lad 
not  arrived  at  years  of  maturity.  His  sin,  too,  was 
pardoned,  and  doubtless  repented  of  with  bitter  tears. 
Yet  it  haunted  him  till  his  dying  day.  And  thus 
many  excellent  men,  like  Peter,  David,  and  Paul, 
have  had  their  happiest  hours  darkened  by  some  ab- 
sorbing and  harrowing  reminiscence.  Let  the 
thought  solemnly  remind  the  young  to  avoid  a  false 
step  in  the  early  stage  of  life's  perilous  journey. 
The  season  is  a  peculiarly  critical  one.  Character 
is  now  forming  for  time  and  eternity,  and  the  ele- 
ments of  happiness  and  misery  are  fast  collect- 
ing. You  cannot  commit  a  crime  with  impunity 
though  you  stand  alone  in  the  middle  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  God  shall  remember  it.  You  shall  remem- 
ber it.  Yes,  it  shall  be  written  deep  in  the  conscience, 
and  occasion  unspeakable  sorrow  at  a  future  period. 
Oh,  the  agony  with  which  that  prayer  of  the  Psalmist 
is  often  uttered  by  the  man  of  gray  hairs,  "  Lord, 
pardon  the  sins  of  my  youth  !  "  Be  wise,  then,  and 
so  fill  up  the  hours  of  the  morning  which  you  now 
enjoy,  that  in  the  night  of  old  age  your  blunted  sensi- 
bilities may  be  revived  by  the  sweet  fragrance  of 
the  flowers  of  memory  culled  from  the  distant  past, 
and,  looking  back  with  calm  serenity,  you  may  say,  "  I 
have  fought  a  good  fight." 

Let  us,  in  the  last  place,  consider  our  text  as  an 


SEEMONS.  119 

instructive  commentary  on  the  frailties  and  imper- 
fections of  the  truly  pious.  God  is  sometimes  pleased 
to  withdraw  from  them  his  supporting  hand,  and 
when  he  does,  they  soon  let  the  church  and  the  world 
Tcnow  it, —  giving  sad  evidences  of  their  weakness,  and 
proving  that  nothing  made  them  to  differ  from  others 
but  sovereign  grace.  Let  us  be  taught  by  such  ex- 
amples to  be  clothed  with  humility,  to  distrust  our- 
selves ;  and,  when  we  stand  most  firmly,  to  take  heed 
lest  we  fall  most  grievously.  You  are  confident, 
you  say,  that  you  could  not  be  guilty  of  such  mean- 
ness, impiety,  and  falsehood.  But  are  you  confident  ? 
Are  you  quite  certain,  that,  if  your  position  and  cir- 
cumstances were  so  changed  as  to  offer  strong  tempta- 
tion, you  would  hold  fast  your  integrity?  At  all 
events,  it  is  best  to  be  vigilant  and  modest.  Even 
were  you  stronger  than  you  think  yourself,  your  true 
safety  is  not  there,  but  in  commending  yourself  to 
God  and  the  word  of  his  grace. 


Fretfulness. 


VI. 

FRETFULNESS. 


Psalms  37  :  8.     Jrct  not  tbgself. 


PROPOSE  to  attack,  from  these  words  of  the 
Psalmist,  a  disposition,  which  no  one  of  sound 
mind  will  pretend  to  justify,  but  which  few 
consider  as  positively  vicious.  The  most  of 
persons  allow  it  to  be  an  imperfection,  a  trait  of 
character  incapable  of  exciting  admiration  or  love. 
But  they  have  too  much  charity  for  infirm  human 
nature,  to  bestow  a  harsher  epithet  on  one  of  its 
most  excusable  weaknesses.  We  confess  we  are  in 
the  habit  of  viewing  it  in  a  different  light,  —  as  a 
vice  fatal  to  ha|)piness,  dishonoring  to  that  God  who 
giveth  us  all  things  riclily  to  enjoy,  and  forbidden  by 
the  express  letter  of  revelation,  as  well  as  the  whole 
spirit  of  true  religion. 

The  Psalmist,  indeed,  employs  the  words  of  our 
text  only  in  reference  to  a  particular  form  of  this 
vice,  for  the  whole  passage  reads,  "  Fret  not  thyself 
because  of  the  vmgodly."  But  our  observations  shall 
relate  to  fretfulness  in  general.  We  shall  first  de- 
scribe this  unhapjDy  temper ;  and,  secondly,  offer 
some  considerations  tending  to  guard  you  against 
its  indulgence. 


124  SERMONS. 

We  are  aware  there  are  some,  who,  possessing  very 
strict  and  delicate  notions  on  the  subject  of  sermon- 
izing, will  hardly  allow  discourses,  like  that  which  is 
to  follow,  the  name  of  sermons  at  all.  It  is  of  very 
trifling  consequence,  however,  by  what  name  my  re- 
marks are  called,  provided  they  do  any  of  you  good. 
For  my  part,  I  have  never  been  able  to  discover  either 
sense  or  scripture  in  banishing  morals  from  the  pul- 
pit ;  nor,  after  my  best  endeavors,  can  I  frame  a  better 
definition  of  what  is  called  a  sermon  than  this,  —  a  dis- 
course calculated  to  make  men  wiser  and  better. 

The  temper  we  speak  of  is  that  which  the  evils 
of  life  are  often  found  to  produce,  especially  in  per- 
sons whose  sensibilities  are  not  under  the  control 
of  a  sound  judgment.  It  is  a  jaundice  of  the  soul,  in 
which  its  unhappy  subject  receives  enjoyment  from 
nothing,  and  extracts  wretchedness  from  everything 
beneath  the  sun ;  clothing  the  loveliest  objects  of 
creation  with  a  dismal,  sick-chamber  gloom.  He  is 
never  satisfied  ;  and,  as  if  the  cup  of  human  suffer- 
ing was  not  sufficiently  full,  goes  through  the  world 
on  a  voyage  of  discovery  for  new  ingredients  to  add 
to  the  bitterness  and  abundance  of  its  contents. 

With  regard  to  the  evils  and  inconveniences  of  life 
the  wise  man  reasons  thus :  "  Why  should  I  allow  my- 
self to  be  annoyed  by  them,  when  I  see  that  I  am  but  a 
partner  in  that  common  inheritance  which  has  descend- 
ed to  the  human  family  ?  Let  me  patiently  endure  ;  let 
me  make  the  best  of  what  I  cannot  remedy,  and  obtain 
a  full  compensation  by  improving  those  innumerable 
sources  of  felicity  that  a  benevolent  Deity  hath  opened 
up  to  me  in  this  wilderness.    In  short,  let  me,  like  the 


SERMONS.  125 

sun-dial,  count  the  hours  that  shine^  leaving  the  record 
of  nights,  and  dark,  dismal  days  to  those  who  have  a 
taste  for  such  observations."  But  not  so  our  melan- 
choly brother,  who  thinks  he  does  well  to  be  angry. 
He  counts  only  evils,  and  makes  little  or  no  distinc- 
tion between  them :  it  matters  not  how  great  or 
small,  —  whether  peculiar  to  himself,  or  common  to 
man.  He  never  asks  whether  they  are  not  fairly  out- 
balanced by  his  resources  of  enjoyment,  but  gives 
himself  up  to  an  abject  melancholy,  venting  his  bitter 
bile  in  a  constant  flow  of  murmurs  and  groans. 

But  that  our  illustrations  may  be  more  definite, 
let  us  view  this  unworthy  temper  in  some  of  its  most 
common  modifications. 

First,  we  shall  invite  your  notice  to  the  peevish 
Christian.  That  the  ways  of  true  religion  are  ways 
of  pleasantness,  is  a  fact  confirmed  by  the  experience 
of  every  good  man.  It  is  also  true,  however,  that  it 
entails  trials  which  make  considerable  demand  on  his 
powers  of  endurance  as  well  as  active  courage.  It 
is  not  always  the  Christian  enjoys  the  light  of  his 
Father's  countenance.  He  is  harassed  by  a  law  in 
his  members  warring  against  the  law  of  his  mind,  and 
bringing  him  in  subjection  to  the  law  of  sin  ;  and 
often  tears  run  down  his  cheeks  because  men  keep 
not  the  commandments  of  his  God.  To  these,  and 
all  other  sorrows  connected  with  his  Christian  pro- 
fession, it  is  his  right ^  his  duty  to  feel  tenderly  alive. 
The  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  nothing  in 
common  with  the  fantastic  dogmas  of  stoicism.  But 
it  too  often  happens  that  sensibility  is  unduly  ex- 
cited, and  religious  grief  degenerates  into  religious 
11* 


126  SERMONS. 

fretfuliiess.  Under  its  dark  shadow  he  is  found 
writing  bitter  things  against  himself  without  a  cause. 
Forgetting,  for  example,  that  true  religion  attains  its 
perfection  in  the  soul  by  a  gradual  process,  by  growth 
and  development,  not  by  sudden  projection,  he  mur- 
murs because  he  does  not  make  the  rapid  advance- 
ment he  expected  ;  because  corruption  still  remains 
powerful,  and  the  enemies  of  his  peace  have  yielded 
so  little  ground  after  years  of  conflict.  Not  seldom 
does  he  give  the  lie  to  all  the  evidences  of  his  salva- 
tion ;  or,  if  kept  from  this  folly,  he  finds  it  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  repel  the  thought  that  God  is  acting 
toward  him  with  strange  rigor. 

There  is  another  class  of  Christians  whose  morbid 
irritability  fixes  on  those  around  them.  They  are 
quite  content  with  their  own  spiritual  attainments, 
but  very  much  displeased  with  those  of  every  one 
else.  All  things  are  going  wrong.  The  love  of  many, 
on  whom  they  built  high  hopes,  is  waxing  cold  ;  no 
blessing  attends  the  administration  of  divine  ordi- 
nances ;  church-discipline  is  sadly  neglected  ;  the 
minister  does  not  visit,  or  visits  too  much.  In  short, 
there  are  griefs  and  grievances  so  numerous  that  it 
would  require  an  age  to  recount  them.  Now,  we 
readily  grant  that  such  things  are  real  and  substan- 
tial grounds  of  lamentation.  But  this  says  nothing 
to  justify  the  morose  temper  we  are  describing.  No 
Christian  has  a  right  to  brood  over  the  evils  of  the 
church  as  if  all  was  lost,  and  Christ  had  gone  back 
to  his  grave.  Depend  upon  it,  whenever  you  see  one 
thus  engaged ;  one  always  presenting  the  dark  side 
of  the  picture,  turning  away  his  eyes  from  everything 


SERMONS.  127 

that  is  favorable  and  promising,  that  you  may  put 
him  down  as  a  man  who,  under  pretence  of  laying  to 
heart  the  desolations  of  Zion,  is  feeding  Ms  own 
spleen  ! 

The  state  of  things  in  the  world  at  large,  supplies 
yet  more  abundant  aliment  to  the  religious  tempera- 
ment we  speak  of.  It  is  a  plain  case  that  sin  has 
caused  inmmierable  disorders,  which  we  are  wit- 
nessing and  feeling  every  hour.  We  live  in  an  age 
of  gold  doubtless  ;  but,  also,  of  iron.,  when  right  is 
invaded,  innocence  oppressed,  rapine  and  violence 
go  unpunished,  and  the  wicked  "  flourish  as  a  green 
bay  tree."  Yonder  is  a  virtuous  mechanic,  going  to 
his  humble  cot,  after  a  long  day  of  exhausting  toil, 
with  a  pittance  scarce  sufficient  to  procure  a  mouth- 
ful of  bread  for  each  of  his  starving  offspring ;  before 
him,  lolling  in  his  splendid  chariot,  a  wretch  who 
never  shed  a  tear,  who  has  fattened  on  the  oppres- 
sion of  the  fatherless  and  the  widow,  who  has  de- 
frauded every  man  who  trusted  either  in  his  honor 
or  his  oath.  This  wretch,  this  worse  than  hyena  of 
the  desert,  is  perhaps  at  the  head  of  tlie  commercial 
worlds  and  is  looked  up  to  with  almost  universal 
homage  and  respect.  Such  spectacles  often  occur. 
With  respect  to  them,  we  are  called  to  exercise  the 
virtue  of  patient  acquiescence,  believing  that,  though 
the  ways  of  Providence  are  a  mystery,  at  present  un- 
fathomable, yet  a  time  shall  come,  when  his  right- 
eousness shall  be  vindicated  to  the  confusion  of  the 
ungodly,  and  complete  satisfaction  of  all  the  good. 
What,  though  there  are  enemies  in  the  world  of  truth 
and  righteousness,  numerous  as  the  sand  of  the  sea, 


128  SEEMONti. 

and  their  cause  fearfully  prosperous  ?  God  reigns. 
We  know  that  the  issue  will  be  glorious ;  that  the 
destiny  of  his  adversaries  is  as  portentous  as  their 
wickedness.  Let  them  enjoy  their  day  !  Methinks  a 
generous  enemy  would  be  rather  pleased  than  other- 
wise that  the  poor  devils  had  a  little  rope  previous 
to  their  final  and  eternal  overthrow. 

But  quite  a  different  view  of  the  subject  is  taken 
by  the  man  we  are  describing.  Forgetting  his  entire 
incompetence  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  deep  things 
of  the  incomprehensible  Supreme,  he  goes  into 
spasms  of  indignation,  accuses  Providence,  and  some- 
times almost  questions  whether  there  be  a  God  who 
governs  the  world  at  all.  Instead  of  learning  from 
present  obliquities  to  anticipate,  with  serene  compos- 
ure, a  day  of  making  straight,  the  only  use  he  makes 
of  them  is  to  weaken  his  sense  of  a  Divine  Presence 
in  the  -earth,  and  cherish  a  habit  of  doubting  and 
complaining  which  gives  a  sombre  aspect  to  the 
whole  of  his  religion.  He  has  no  heart  or  leisure  to 
act  out  holy  love  to  his  God  and  Saviour,  for  he  is 
eternally  brooding  over  the  progress  of  Popery.  It 
is  no  time  to  feast  on  the  blessed  promises  of  the  gos- 
pel, when  errors  of  every  kind,  —  Infidelity,  Roman- 
ism, Slaveholding,  Red  Democracy,  Despotism,  German 
Transcendentalism,  Nebraska  bills,  etc.,  etc., —  are 
coming  in  like  a  flood,  threatening  to  bring  back  pri- 
meval chaos.  How  take  comfort,  when,  at  the  rate  at 
which  things  are  going  on,  the  world  must  surely  come 
to  an  end  in  less  than  half  a  century  ?  This  is  the  kind  of 
Christian  who  impresses  the  children  of  the  world  with 
the  idea  that  Christianity  is  a  sour,  melancholy  thing. 


SEE3I0NS.  129 

They  see  him  constantly  hanging  his  head  Uke  a  bul- 
rush ;  when  they  hear  him,  nothing  meets  the  ear  but 
the  moaning  of  a  spirit  fretting  at  itself  and  all  around  ; 
and  they  conclude  that  he  is  a  lineal  descendant  of 
that  weeping  philosopher  of  old,  who  went  up  and 
down  through  Greece,  painting  in  most  horrid  colors 
the  miseries  of  life,  that  he  might  drive  his  hearers 
to  cut  their  throats,  or  swallow  poison  in  despair. 

Let  us  now  come  to  the  domestic  circle.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  in  the  best  ordered  families  there  must 
occur,  from  time  to  time,  incidents  of  a  vexatious 
character,  which  are  so  many  calls  to  the  exer- 
cise of  patience.  This,  however,  is  not  considered 
by  a  certain  class  of  persons,  wlio  seem  to  take  a 
perfect  delight  in  registering  every  misconduct, 
quarrelling  about  the  veriest  trifles,  and  pouring 
forth  the  most  heart-rending  complaints  on  what 
merited  only  a  smile,  or,  at  the  worst,  a  mild  rebuke. 
Their  servants  are  the  most  stupid  and  lazy  in  the 
world.  So  wretchedly  managed  is  the  culinary  de- 
partment that  scarcely  once  a  month  do  they  sit 
down  to  a  decent  meal :  the  bread  is  always  dough  ; 
the  milk  is  sour,  —  everything,  in  fact,  is  precisely 
what  it  ought  not  to  be ;  and  wife,  domestics,  yea, 
even  the  poor,  purring  animal  at  the  fireside,  spite 
of  its  sleepy  and  harmless  look,  are  in  a  black 
conspiracy  against  the  unhappy  man's  peace.  No 
wonder,  then,  that,  in  self-defence,  he  conspires 
against  theirs  ! 

Another  form  of  the  vice  we  are  describing  is  that 
arising  from  temporal  condition.  It  has  pleased  God 
to  establish  among  men  a  great  variety  in  outward 


130  SEB3I0NS 

circumstances.  Some  arc  rich,  some  are  poor  ;  some 
are  exalted,  some  comparatively  debased.  Yet,  after 
all,  we  may  safely  affirm  that  the  capabilities  of  sub- 
stantial happiness  are  pretty  nearly  equal  among  all 
classes.  The  only  difficulty  lies  in  men's  indisposi- 
tion to  improve  their  advantages  —  in  their  strange 
proneness  to  reject  the  enjoyment  that  is  within 
their  reach.  The  true  reason  of  the  poor  man's 
misery  is  the  bitterness  of  his  own  spirit,  and  this 
would  make  him  equally  miserable  were  he  possessor 
of  thousands.  We  see  this  exemplified  every  day. 
Take,  for  instance,  a  man  of  an  irritable  and  peevish 
temperament,  and  mark  him  in  his  progress  from 
penury  to  affluence.  Is  there  the  least  improvement 
in  his  feelings  ?  Is  he  not  just  as  wretched  on 
the  day  of  retiring  from  the  pursuit,  with  a  large 
and  unincumbered  fortune,  as  when  he  commenced 
his  career  ?  Yes.  He  is  the  same  complaining 
being  he  ever  was ;  and  all  the  showers  of  Provi- 
dential bounty  have  not  smoothed  a  single  wrinkle 
on  his  brow.  When  in  the  depths  of  poverty,  he 
tormented  himself  because  he  was  not  rich ;  when 
rich,  he  mourns  that  he  is  not  richer  ;  and  thus 
always  finds  something  in  his  condition  to  justify 
the  complaint  of  being  one  of  the  most  miserable  of 
men  ;  and  so  he  is,  and  so  he  richly  deserves  to 
be, — for  no  man  can  seek  after  hidden  treasure  more 
earnestly  than  he  seeks  after  ways  and  means  to 
make  himself  uncomfortable. 

The  next  form  of  the  vice  under  consideration  is  to 
be  dealt  with  much  more  tenderly, —  the  fretfulness  of 
infirmity  and  old  age.    Such  is  the  intimate  connection 


SERMONS.  131 

between  soul  and  body,  that  disorder  in  the  one  dis- 
turbs the  health  and  serenity  of  the  other.  This  is 
especially  the  case  with  those  whose  minds  are  natu- 
rally weak  and  susceptible,  and  who,  while  blessed 
with  health,  provided  no  resources  of  enjoyment 
independent  of  things  merely  outward.  Chastened 
with  pain  on  their  bed,  their  life  abhorreth  bread,  and 
their  souls  dainty  meat.  Everything  sickens  and  dis- 
quiets. It  is  seldom  they  meet  with  friends  so 
ardently  affectionate  as  to  make  necessary  allowance 
for  the  frequent  exacerbations  of  temper  they  are 
doomed  to  witness.  This  adds  to  the  bitterness  of 
the  peevish  sick  man's  spirit  —  and  not  rarely  he  goes 
out  of  the  world,  cursing  the  day  on  which  he  was 
born,  and  his  connections  blessing  the  day  on  which 
he  died. 

There  is  another  species  of  the  vice  under  our 
notice,  with  the  mention  of  which  we  shall  conclude 
this  part  of  our  discourse.  Hitherto  we  have  sup- 
posed that  the  evils  complained  of  are  for  the  most 
part  real^  though  not  deserving  the  importance  that 
is  attached  to  them.  There  is  a  peevishness,  how- 
ever, which  delights  in  ills  that  have  no  existence  but 
in  the  mind;  and  this  kind  naturally  grows  out  of  the 
former.  When  a  man  has  long  habitually  indulged 
a  captious  spirit,  his  imagination  becomes  entirely 
disordered.  It  creates  false  images,  false  inferences, 
false  fears.  He  never  feels  at  ease  except  when 
croaking.  His  happiness  consists  in  being  thoroughly 
unhappy ;  and  hence,  even  when  his  circumstances 
are  perfectly  comfortable,  he  sets  his  wits  a- working 
in  search  of  some  dead  fly  or  another  to  spoil  his  cup 


132  SERMONS. 

of  enjoyment.  Mark  yonder  female,  apparently  in 
the  lowest  depths  of  despondency.  Passing  yester- 
day through  the  street,  she  met  a  favorite  acquaint- 
ance who  neglected  to  return  her  salutation, — 
probably  not  seeing  her :  yet  she  is  miserable. 
Mark  another  character.  He  is  the  possessor  of 
ten  thousand  pounds ;  yet,  he  always  anticipates 
dying  in  the  almshouse.  Observe  that,  though  he  is 
remarkable  for  a  sound,  vigorous  constitution,  and 
decidedly  proves  it  three  times  a  day,  —  that  is,  at 
every  meal,  —  yet  he  continually  dreams  that  he  is 
sick ;  and  with  more  safety  may  you  insinuate  that 
he  is  a  thief  or  a  defaulter,  than  that  he  is  a  person 
in  good  health.  A  hundred  such  instances  might  be 
adduced  to  show  how  strangely  some  persons  contrive 
to  put  themselves  out  of  humor  with  life  and  enjoy- 
ment. 

From  all  that  has  been  said,  it  appears  that  the 
vice  described  is  one  of  no  common  magnitude. 
We  hope,  therefore,  you  will  continue  to  favor  us 
with  your  attention,  while  we  suggest  how  we  can 
most  successfully  guard  ourselves  against  it,  and 
attain  a  happy  serenity  of  mind  under  all  circum- 
stances. 

The  great  remedy  we  offer,  at  present,  is  serious 
reflection  on  the  unreasonableness,  the  misery,  and 
the  odiousness  of  the  temper  delineated.  Thought- 
lessness is  the  parent  of  this  as  of  all  other  evil 
habits.  Men  do  not  exercise  timely  consideration, 
but  permit  it  to  make  gradual  and  imperceptible 
advances,  till  it  obtains  complete  mastery  over  the 
soul.     Were  they  only  to  think  in  season,  they  would 


SERMONS.  133 

stand  in  no  need  of  exhortations  to  detest  and  avoid 
it. 

Consider,  in  the  first  place,  its  unreasonableness. 
Is  it  not  most  unwise  to  let  ourselves  be  disturbed  by 
every  trivial  disappointment  and  cross,  like  very  chil- 
dren, when  by  the  exercise  of  a  little  patience  we 
should  find  they  are  utterly  incapable  of  harming 
us  ?  Add  to  this  the  reflection  already  made,  that 
disappointments  of  some  kind  must  come.  We  can- 
not expect  to  make  the  voyage  of  life  without  en- 
countering head  winds  and  adverse  currents.  On 
such  contingencies  we  have  as  much  reason  to  calcu- 
late, as  the  mariner  when  he  trusts  himself  to  the 
deceitful  ocean.  He  knows  what  he  must  expect,  — 
he  makes  his  arrangements  :  accordingly,  when  the 
unpropitious  gale  is  seen  ruffling  the  deep  at  a  distance, 
he  takes  it  as  a  thing  of  course,  awaits  the  issue  with 
philosophic  tranquillity, — his  only  care  being  so  to  dis- 
pose his  canvas  as  to  make  the  best  of  it ;  and  he 
actually  succeeds  in  compelling  its  aid  while  proceed- 
ing to  his  destined  port.  If  overtaken  by  a  calm,  he 
quietly  casts  his  anchor,  and  sits  down  to  the  luxury 
of  a  pipe.  He  would  be  ashamed  of  giving  way  to 
fretful  despondency,  because  of  an  occasional  cloud 
or  squall.  Equally  absurd  is  the  conduct  of  him, 
who,  because  everything  in  life  does  not  occur  pre- 
cisely as  he  wishes,  suffers  himself  to  be  deprived  of 
his  greatest  treasure,  —  his  quiet  and  peace  of  mind. 

But  the  unreasonableness  of  this  spirit  will  appear 
in  another  point  of  view.  Its  possessor  takes  the 
method  best  calculated  to  give  reality  and  weight  to 
his  trials.  ^Jgy  constantly  brooding  over  them,  he 

12 


134  SERMONS, 

gives  them  an  importance  to  which  they  have  no 
claim,  and  makes  liimself  the  abject  slave  of  what,  by- 
one  manly  effort,  he  would  have  learned  to  despise. 
Which,  think  you,  contrives  to  enjoy  the  greatest 
amount  of  happiness  on  a  journey ;  the  traveller, 
who,  laying  his  account  to  suffer  a  variety  of  little 
hardships,  good-humoredly  puts  up  with  exorbitant 
charges,  laughs  at  the  insolence  of  drivers,  the  crazi- 
ness  of  his  vehicle,  and  the  badness  of  the  roads, 
—  who,  in  fine,  is  determined  to  be  happy  in  spite  of 
circumstances ;  or  his  choleric  companion,  who,  the 
moment  he  has  taken  his  seat,  declares  open  war  with 
heaven  and  earth,  and  seems  to  pride  himself  on  a 
wonderful  perspicacity  in  finding  everywhere  some- 
thing on  which  to  bestow  a  groan,  if  not  a  profane 
curse.  This  is  a  fair  illustration  of  Jonah  angry  at 
the  loss  of  his  gourd.  He  adopts  the  very  course, 
which,  a  moment's  thought  would  teach  him,  is  the 
most  effectual  to  multiply  and  envenom  his  miseries. 
Consider,  in  the  next  place,  the  odiousness  of  this 
spirit.  We  are  so  constituted  that  we  cannot  but  feel 
unhappy  at  the  sight  of  unhappiness ;  and  this,  if  ac- 
companied with  a  belief  that  the  unhappiness  which 
affects  us  is  entirely  unreasonable,  creates  a  sort  of 
anger  at  him  who  has  obliged  us  to  be  miserable 
by  sympathy,  when  there  is  no  adequate  cause.  Now, 
the  peevish,  discontented  man  is  precisely  this  disa- 
greeable character.  Misery  on  his  countenance, 
misery  on  his  tongue,  we  cannot  resist  the  contagion ; 
yet,  fully  convinced  of  its  unreasonableness,  we  are 
provoked  at  his  disregard  for  our  tranquillity,  and 
at  the  egotism  which  would  cause  us  needless  pain. 


SEEM  ON S.  135 

This  is  a  consideration  well  worth  the  attention  of 
those  who  feel  a  propensity  to  the  vice  referred  to. 
They  would  do  well  to  consider,  that  if  they  wish 
to  receive  our  genuine  sympathy,  they  must  take  care 
not  to  make  on  it  unjust  or  exorbitant  demands,  lest 
they  excite  emotions  of  a  very  different  nature. 
They  would  do  well  to  consider,  that,  by  continually 
dinning  their  neighbors'  ears  with  lamentations, 
they  will  in  time  come  to  be  viewed  as  no  better  than 
swindlers;  not,  indeed,  cheating  them  out  of  their 
purse,  but  doing  what  is  almost  equally  odious,  mak- 
ing unauthorized  and  fraudulent  drafts  on  their 
stock  of  feeling  and  sentiment. 

I  would  beg  leave  particularly  to  impress  this 
thought  on  the  aged,  and  those  who  labor  under 
lingering  chronical  disease,  inasmuch  as  they  are  most 
liable  to  lose  sight  of  it.  They  feel  that  their  evils 
are  not  imaginary^  and  easily  persuade  themselves 
that  they  have  a  right  to  draw  on  their  neighbors' 
bank  of  sympathy  to  any  amount.  But,  then,  they 
should  reflect  that  their  infirmities,  being  peculiar 
to  themselves,  are  not  fully  understood  by  persons 
enjoying  youth  and  health,  and  therefore,  as  to  the 
present  question,  are  little  better  than  imaginary;  for 
which  reason  they  will  find  it  much  for  their  interest, 
in  no  case  to  demand  all  that  they  feel  authorized 
to  expect.  If  they  desire  to  pass  the  evening  of  their 
days  in  a  circle  of  affectionate  and  devoted  relatives, 
let  them  stifle  as  often  as  possible  the  rising  sigh. 
Let  the  smile  of  tranquillity  beam  on  their  counte- 
nances, and  their  sportful  grandchildren  hang  on 
their  lips  for  the   good-natured  jest,  or  instructive 


136  SERMONS. 

story,  at  the  very  moment  anguish  is  rioting  on  the 
heart.  In  fine,  let  them  beware  of  that  whining, 
querulous  disposition,  which  makes  old  age,  indeed, 
a  curse,  —  a  curse  to  itself,  and  a  curse  to  all  around 
it. 

What  a  delightful  spectacle  is  that  of  a  sprightly, 
pleasant,  chirping  old  man ;  especially  when  we  per- 
ceive his  happy  temperament  to  be,  not  the  empty, 
noisy  mirth  of  the  fool,  but  the  calm  blessedness 
of  one  who  has  built  on  the  Rock  of  Ages  an  im- 
mortal hope.  We  cannot  help  loving  him  and  court- 
ing his  society.  We  see  him  in  a  situation,  above  all 
others,  calculated  to  overspread  the  mind  with  gloom, 
and  yet,  endeavoring  to  he  happy.  Our  pleasure  is 
the  greater,  because  we  infer  that  he  seeks  our  hap- 
piness. We  know  that  he  must  suffer  many  things 
of  which  we  have  no  conceptions ;  and  yet,  from 
regard  to  us,  he  casts  over  them  the  mantle  of  a  con- 
stant smile.  And  when,  at  last,  he  sinks  beneath  his 
load  ;  when  he  can  no  longer  conceal  what  he  would 
fain  conceal,  that  he  is  a  sufferer,  how  is  he  rewarded 
by  the  tears  and  tender  offices  of  those,  to  whose 
happiness  he  sacrificed  the  only  earthly  gratification 
in  which  it  was  possible  for  him  to  indulge,  that  of 
asking  our  sympathy  in  his  sorrows  !  In  this  respect, 
he  emphatically  verifies  the  converse  of  the  prop- 
osition, "  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive."  He  ashed  not; 
but  receives  the  more. 

There  is  another  class  of  reflections  to  which  we 
invite  the  notice  of  those  who,  fond  of  overlooking 
the  solid  and  numerous  blessings  enjoyed  by  them- 
selves and  others,  brood  with  melancholy  exaggera- 


SEE  31  ON  S.  13T 

tion  on  the  evils  of  our  earthly  pilgrimage.  The 
temper  they  indulge  is  not  only  odious,  but  is  founded 
on  a  false  estimate  of  the  present  state  of  things, 
in  which  there  is  a  decided  preponderance  of  pleasure 
and  enjoyment.  It  is  too  fashionable  to  suppose  that 
our  holy  religion  forbids  us  to  take  this  view  of  the 
subject ;  that  we  even  do  it  honor  by  finding,  on  every- 
thing here  below,  the  brand  of  the  curse,  —  as  if  re- 
ligion commanded  us  to  deny  the  gracious  providence 
of  God,  to  blaspheme  the  divine  beauty  of  life. 
That  sin  has  wrought  awful  ravages  in  our  beautiful 
world  is  a  solemn  truth.  But  this  is  no  reason  for 
aggravating  them  and  putting  them  forward  on  the 
canvas,  leaving  at  the  same  time  all  its  light  and 
happiness  in  the  background.  It  is  a  beautiful  world 
still.  Deny  it,  and  you  deny  the  benevolence  of  the 
Deity;  nay,  you  are  ready  for  a  plunge  into  the 
dreary  gulf  of  atheism.  Look  at  facts.  We  hear 
sometimes  of  the  agonies  of  famine  and  thirst ;  but 
for  every  victim  to  these  horrid  furies,  how  many 
happy  faces  see  we,  the  signs  of  as  happy  hearts, — 
hearts  filled  with  joy  and  gladness.  Let  any  man  in 
ordinary  health  endeavor  to  compute  the  pleasurable 
feelings  he  has  experienced  in  a  single  day,  —  those 
of  warmth,  and  of  eating  and  drinking  and  talking, 
and  looking  up  at  the  glories  of  God's  heavens,  and 
round  him  at  the  glories  of  God's  earth  ;  not  to 
speak  of  the  pure  joys  of  our  religion,  with  the  vari- 
ous other  that  fill  up  every  instant  of  existence, — 
he  will  find  that  he  may  as  well  undertake  to  count 
the  sands  of  the  seashore,  or  the  stars  of  a  winter  sky. 
Sometimes  the  dagger  pierces,  the  fire  burns,  and 

12* 


138  SERMONS. 

poison  tears  the  vitals.  But  we  must  travel  to  enjoy 
such  sights.  Our  every-day  scenes  are  of  quite  a 
different  character.  We  witness  occasionally  the 
ravages  of  disease.  Perhaps  you  visited  a  friend,  or 
neighbor  to-day,  suffering  the  torments  of  the  stone ; 
or  you  were  condemned  to  hear  the  suppressed 
groans  of  a  poor  wretch  swollen  with  dropsy. 

"  There  the  tertian  shakes  his  chilling  wings, 
The  sleepless  gout  here  counts  the  crowing  cocks." 

All  true.  But  have  you  forgotten  that  for  every  such 
picture  of  woe  you  can  find  a  thousand  of  sprightli- 
ness  and  ruddy  health  ?  Go  through  the  country,  my 
dear  brother  croaker,  whose  tears  are  continually 
falling  over  human  wretchedness,  —  to  whom  "  this 
goodly  frame,  the  earth,  seems  a  sterile  promontory  ; 
yon  brave  overhanging  firmament  a  foul  and  pesti- 
lent congregation  of  vapors,  whom  man  delights  not, 
nor  woman  either,"  and  the  ways  of  God  still  less  ; 
and  count  all  the  beds  of  sickness,  and  then  count  all 
the  beds  of  sweet  and  quiet  repose.  Chalk  all  the 
houses  visited  by  sorrow,  and  then  number,  if  you 
can,  the  palaces,  cottages,  workshops,  and  shanties, 
which  the  sweet  angel  of  content  is  cheering  and 
blessing  with  her  smiles. 

Even  in  the  case  of  the  really  afflicted,  we  shall 
often  discover,  if  we  look  for  it,  far  more  happiness 
than  misery.  "  God  tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn 
lamb."  Seldom  do  we  find  a  cup  of  sorrow,  in  which, 
mingled  with  the  wormwood  and  the  gall,  are  not  ex- 
quisite aromatics,  that  almost  neutralize  its  bitterness. 
In  the  darkest  night  there  are  stars  that  look  down 


SERMONS.  139 

with  their  meek,  pleasant  eyes,  on  the  lonely  sufferer. 
In  every  situation  there  are  comforts  and  compensa- 
tions, not  the  less  real  or  efficacious  because  they 
escape  the  notice  of  the  superficial  observer.  How 
dreadful  the  condition  of  yonder  blind  beggar,  we  ex- 
claim, deprived  of  the  sweet  light  of  day  and  con- 
demned to  an  eternal  dungeon  !  We  imagine  that  all 
within  must  be  as  black  and  desolate  as  the  night 
without  a  morn,  in  which  he  is  enveloped :  — 

"  Seasons  return,  but  not  to  him  returns 
Day,  or  the  sweet  approach  of  ev'n  or  morn, 
Or  sight  of  vernal  bloom,  or  summer's  rose, 
Or  flocks,  or  herds,  or  human  face  divine ; 
But  cloud  instead,  and  ever  during  dark 
Surrounds  him." 

But  we  are  quite  mistaken  in  our  conjectures.  That 
poor  wretch,  as  we  think  him,  and  of  whom  we  have 
been  quoting,  is  quite  at  home  in  his  midnight,  —  per- 
haps the  gayest  of  the  gay.  At  least,  if  not  merry, 
he  is  happy.  He  breathes  the  air  of  heaven ;  he 
listens  to  the  music  of  the  grove  ;  his  crust  has  a 
relish  which  the  epicure  might  envy ;  the  delightful 
luxury  of  rest  after  fatigue  is  his ;  if  he  does  not  see 
his  children,  he  can  dandle  them  on  his  knee,  and, 
perhaps,  he  loves  and  caresses  his  old  wife  more 
fondly  than  if  she  was  an  object  of  his  vision.  Yes ; 
even  the  blind  beggar,  for  one  pain,  has  a  thousand 
pleasures,  and  as  he  falters  along  after  his  faithful 
dog,  at  once  his  companion  and  his  guide,  can  look 
up  to  Heaven  and  thank  it  for  existence.  In  short, 
let  us  ever  keep  in  view  the  blessed  truth  that  Divine 
Goodness  rules  and  overrules  all  events.     How  can  a 


140  SERMONS. 

man,  who  firmly  believes  that  a  beneyolent  Deity  is  in 
everything,  fret  at  anything  ?  Trust  in  God  with  an 
implicit  confidence,  believing  that  all  things  are  under 
his  gracious  care,  —  that  he  loves  his  creatures  ;  and 
you  will  soon  learn  in  whatsoever  condition  you  are, 
therein  to  be  content. 

But  do  we  not  live  in  a  dying  world,  replies  our 
melancholy  friend,  and  is  not  this  enough  to  justify 
our  complaints  ?  How  soon  must  all  our  pleasures 
cease,  and  the  grave  swallow  up  l^oth  us  and  the  re- 
membrance of  us  !  I  grant  the  fact.  "  We  must  all 
die,"  as  the  wise  woman  of  Tekoah  said  ;  who  was  not 
so  judicious,  however,  in  her  following  remark, — 
"  and  are  as  water  spilled  on  the  ground."  This,  we 
Christians,  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  the  great  Teacher 
of  immortality,  know  to  be  false.  Spilt  water,  in- 
deed !  No,  no,  wise  woman.  Thy  sagacity  is  en- 
tirely at  fault.  Death  is  but  the  porch  to  life,  the 
entrance  to  a  state  of  blessedness  without  end,  the 
command  of  the  great  proprietor  of  all  "  to  come  up 
higher."  Why  deplore  the  necessity  of  such  an  event 
when  preparation  is  fully  in  our  power  ? 

Dying,  besides,  is  essential  to  the  existence  and  hap- 
piness of  the  race.  It  has  pleased  our  good  Creator 
to  place  us  on  a  ball  of  earth,  parts  of  which  consist 
of  water,  rock,  and  sand,  and  all  of  which  doubtless 
have  excellent  uses,  but  are  not  adapted  to  the  sup- 
port of  human  life.  It  has  also  pleased  him  that  our 
race  exist  in  succession,  with  the  evident  purpose  of 
multiplying  indefinitely  the  objects  of  his  goodness, 
who  must  have  remained  few  in  number,  had  the 
same  generation  enjoyed  a  fee-simple,  or  perpetual 


BERMONS.  141 

lease.  And  thus  our  little  planet  has  for  six  thousand 
years  been  teeming  with  life  and  happiness,  sending 
forth  from  her  fruitful  womb  millions  and  millions  of 
millions,  —  every  individual  of  whom  has  tasted  the 
blessedness  of  existence,  and  filled  up  its  niche  in  the 
great  gallery  of  the  universe,  —  without  any  serious 
crowding  or  being  crowded.  Forty  years  ago  our 
fathers  occupied  the  beautiful  domain.  They  are 
gone,  and  we  are  in  possession.  In  a  short  time  our 
children  will  need  it,  and,  God  bless  them,  let  them 
have  it, — woods,  tenements,  waters,  mines,  metals, 
fisheries,  hereditaments,  —  all !  It  is  our  part  to  give 
a  smiling  welcome  to  the  quit  notice,  and  retire 
gracefully  from  the  scene.  The  diseases  and  afflic- 
tions which  precede  it  are  not  curses,  but  kind  pro- 
visions of  nature  for  reconciling  us  to  the  change. 
Were  we  universally  torn  away  in  the  flush  of  health 
and  vigor,  there  might  be  reason  to  complain.  But 
the  general  rule  is  far  otherwise.  Usually  we  are 
made  to  feel  that  this  is  not  the  place  of  our 
rest,  by  pains  more  or  less  acute,  and  the  growing 
infirmities  of  age  ;  so  that  at  last  the  well-disciplined 
mind  takes  to  death  as  naturally  as  the  tired  infant 
to  sleep  on  its  mother's  bosom. 

"  I  would  not  live  alway,  I  ask  not  to  stay." 

How  gently,  too,  and  by  what  insensible  degrees, 
are  the  generations  of  men  removed  from  their  places 
in  the  world  !  With  the  exception  of  now  and  then 
a  pestilence  or  exterminating  war,  the  work  goes  on 
so  quietly  that  we  scarcely  heed  it,  unless  we  take  a 
large  compass  of  years  in  our  survey.     How  seldom 


142  SERMONS. 

is  more  than  one  of  a  family  taken  at  a  time,  and  at 
what  distant  intervals  !  The  real  wonder  is,  how,  in 
thirty  or  forty  years,  so  many  of  us  contrive  to  slip 
away  from  the  company  without  creating  any  serious 
blank  in  it ! 

Nor  let  us  forget  the  admirable  arrangement  by 
which  the  loss  of  friends  soon  ceases  to  be  felt,  leav- 
ing only  a  tender  remembrance  that  partakes  as  much 
of  pleasure  as  pain.  How  soon  does  time  exert  its 
soothing  power,  enabling  us  to  look  back  with  sur- 
prise to  the  agony  experienced  in  parting !  The 
thought  may  not  be  a  very  sentimental  one,  nor 
figure  in  a  sonnet,  but  is  undoubtedly  true,  and  a 
proof  of  the  benignant  wisdom  of  Providence,  that 
the  hiatus  in  our  associations  and  feelings,  occa- 
sioned by  the  loss  of  friends,  is  tolerably  well  filled 
up  at  the  end  of  the  first  year.  At  the  end  of  the 
second,  were  the  power  given  us  of  resuscitating 
them,  we  would  pause  and  calculate  pros  and  cons^ 
before  exerting  it.  At  the  end  of  the  third,  their 
return  might  be  extremely  inconvenient.  Ah  !  think 
not,  my  brother,  who  art  mourning  over  the  remains 
of  the  beloved  partner  of  thy  cares  and  joys,  that  all 
is  lost,  and  that  peace  will  never  revisit  thy  widowed 
bosom !  The  dark  night  of  sorrow  may  be  suc- 
ceeded before  you  are  aware  by  the  dawn  of  a  happy 
morning.  Consolation,  rich  consolation,  and  in  the 
most  agreeable  form,  may  be  in  store  for  you. 
Peradventure,  before  the  grass  carpets  the  grave  of 
her  whose  irreparable  loss  you  mourn,  miotlier  of 
heaven's  last  best  gifts  to  man  may  grace  your  deso- 
late bower  and  Eden  bloom  again  !     Happy  for  man- 


SEBMONS.  143 

kind,  that  hearts  are  of  more  malleable  stuff  than 
many  imagine.  They  may  be  bruised,  and  bleed  at 
the  stroke  of  misfortune,  but  are  seldom  known  to 
break,  except  in  the  pages  of  some  lady  novelist. 

Finally ;  the  great  argument,  by  which  we  would 
urge  you  to  correct  the  vice  under  discussion,  is 
its  incongruity  with  our  sinful  character  and  condi- 
tion. Whatever  our  external  circumstances  be,  it 
is  certain  that  they  are  far  better  than  we  deserve. 
We  have  no  right  to  be  angry  ;  for  it  is  of  the 
tender  mercies  of  God  that  we  have  not  been  long 
ere  tliis  consumed.  Let  us  think  of  this,  when 
we  feel  a  disposition  to  repine  at  the  ways  of  Heaven, 
and  charge  Providence  with  unkindness.  It  will  be 
an  admirable  sweetener  of  an  acrid  temper.  Con- 
sider, unreasonable  man,  who  permittest  thyself  to  be 
wretched  at  the  loss  of  a  few  dollars,  or  some  trifling 
disappointment,  that,  if  thou  hadst  thy  due,  thou 
wouldst  be  in  hell,  weeping  and  gnashing  thy  teeth. 
Let  imagination  carry  thee,  for  a  moment,  to  the 
regions  of  the  lost,  and  while  listening  to  the  groans 
of  an  agony  which  shall  never  have  an  end,  learn  the 
blessedness  of  thy  condition,  and  the  debt  of  grati- 
tude thou  art  under  to  that  merciful  Being  who  has 
thus  made  thee  to  differ. 


Causes  and  Cuue  of  Low  Spirits. 


VII. 

CAUSES  AND   CURE   OF  LOW  SPIRITS. 


Psalms  77 :  2-13.      |it  \\t  bag  of  mg  trouble  |  songljt  i\t  'gatis,  tit. 


HAT  a  terrible  state  of  mind  is  this  de- 
scribed by  the  Psahnist,  and  how  graphically 
set  before  us  !  We  almost  see  the  mihappy 
man  writhing  and  tossing  on  his  bed  of 
agony,  and  hear  the  doleful  laments  which  he  pours 
out  with  a  bitter  intensity  enough  to  melt  a  heart  of 
stone.  "  In  the  day  of  my  trouble,"  he  says,  "  I 
sought  the  Lord :  my  sore  ran  in  the  night,  and 
ceased  not."  But  meditations  on  God  only  aggra- 
vated the  malady.  "  I  thought  on  God  and  was 
troubled."  Billows  of  distress  were  all  around,  and 
deluged  his  very  soul.  "  I  complained,  and  my  spirit 
was  overwhelmed." 

This  sad  mental  condition  was  not  peculiar  to 
David.  The  disease  is  not  an  uncommon  one,  and 
exists  often  when  it  is  least  suspected.  You  will 
allow  me,  therefore,  to  make  some  remarks  which 
may  be  of  advantage  to  those  in  whose  hands  God 
has  put,  for  wise  reasons,  no  doubt,  this  cup  of 
trembling.  With  regard  to  its  nature  and  symp- 
toms. It  consists  in  a  settled  depression  of  mind, 
proceeding  from   a  gloomy  apprehension   of   divine 


148  SERMONS. 

wrath  ;  a  prevailing  doubt,  or  rather  disbelief  of  our 
pardon  and  acceptance,  producing  debility  of  spirit, 
dark  views  of  Divine  Providence,  melancholy  fore- 
bodings of  the  future,  and  an  awful  sinking  of  heart 
when  eternity  or  any  kindred  subject  happens  to  be 
mentioned. 

I  have  specified  debility  of  spirit  as  one  of  its  ef- 
fects ;  and  nothing  is  more  true.  There  is  invariably 
conjoined  with  it  a  torpor  bordering  on  paralysis  of 
all  the  moral  activities.  A  man  without  hope  is  like 
a  ship  becalmed  and  floundering  in  the  trough  of  the 
sea.  He  has  no  motive  power,  nor  buoyancy,  no  im- 
pulse to  exertion,  nor  any  principle  of  courage  to  sus- 
tain him  in  the  pursuit  of  objects  beneficial  to  him- 
self or  others.  Constantly  brooding  over  his  miseries, 
he  looks  around  him  with  a  vacant  eye,  utterly  un- 
appreciative  of  the  claims  made  upon  him  by  the  law 
of  duty , —  a  law  in  which  he  finds  no  advantage 
or  reward.  He  loses  his  faith  in  God,  in  human 
nature,  and  in  all  things.  Even  the  great  universe 
is,  in  his  eyes,  a  great  sliam^  a  juggler's  exhibi- 
tion, plausible  enough  to  the  outside  gazer,  but,  to 
him  who  has  been  admitted  behind  the  curtain,  a 
compound  of  pasteboard,  red  ochre,  and  rancid  oil. 
That  the  sincerely  religious  man  is  preserved  from 
such  a  desolating  scepticism  we  may  admit,  and  do 
assuredly  believe.  But  he  is  often  discovered  not  far 
from  its  dark  confines.  Excessive  grief  is  the  most 
demoralizing,  as  well  as  the  meanest  of  all  feelings  to 
which  the  mind  can  surrender  itself,  and  the  Christian 
finds  this  to  his  cost,  as  well  as  others,  if  he  permits 
it.  to  get  the  upper  hand.     It  is  despair  which  makes 


SERMONS.  149 

devils.  If,  when  first  cast  out  from  the  celestial  city, 
they  had  been  permitted  to  carry  with  them  one  bud 
of  hope  plucked  from  the  trees  of  Paradise,  that  bud, 
we  can  scarce  avoid  believing,  would  have  ripened 
into  the  flower.  Salvation ;  and  long  before  this  they 
would  have  found  their  way  back  to  God's  loving 
bosom  and  their  lost  heaven. 

We  now  proceed  to  consider,  first,  the  causes  ;  and, 
second,  the  cure  of  this  unhappy  disease. 

With  regard  to  the  first,  it  is  undoubtedly  some- 
times occasioned  by  distemper  of  body.  Thus,  per- 
haps, with  the  Psalmist.  He  speaks,  in  the  second 
verse,  of  his  sore  running  in  the  night,  which  may, 
mdeed,  be  considered  as  figurative  language,  but 
more  naturally  points  to  some  corporeal  trouble, —  an 
ulcer,  carbuncle,  or  leprosy,  —  the  torture  of  which 
deprived  him  of  rest,  and  so  affected  his  nervous 
system  that  life  was  a  burden.  Religious  feelings, 
like  others,  ebb  and  flow  with  the  animal  spirits,  and 
such  is  the  connection  between  mind  and  matter 
that  they  exercise  over  each  other  a  most  powerful 
influence.  Persons,  for  example,  of  infirm  and  sickly 
constitutions  are  always  ready  to  view  things  on  the 
most  gloomy  side,  and  the  least  circumstance  may 
occasion  a  dejection  which  they  cannot  throw  off; 
and  this  begins  very  soon  to  tell  on  their  religion. 
They  are  too  apt  to  fix  their  thoughts,  if  capable  of 
thought  at  all,  on  the  more  profound  and  awful  parts 
of  divine  revelation  ;  such  as  the  origin  of  moral 
evil,  predestination,  the  unpardonable  sin,  and  to 
perplex  themselves  with  embarrassing  questions  that 
would  make  an  archangel  low-spirited. 

13* 


150  SERMONS. 

Close  confinement,  also,  will  often  produce  this 
moral  condition.  So,  likewise,  will  excess  of  care 
and  secular  engagements,  wearing  away  and  exhaust- 
ino*  the  strength.  It  is  also  sometimes  hereditary 
and  the  effect  of  a  natural  temperament  or  idiosyn- 
crasy descending  from  parent  to  child,  as  it  is  found 
to  prevail  in  certain  families.  I  mention  this  class 
of  influences  first,  because,  if  the  spring  of  dejection 
lies  here,  the  whole  matter  is  accounted  for  at  once, 
and  the  aid  of  medicine  must  be  invoked.  There  is 
no  irreverence  in  saying  that  the  brain,  the  bile,  and 
the  bowels,  have  much  to  do  with  spiritual  exer- 
cises, and  moderate  doses  of  blue  pill  and  sulphate  of 
quinine,  with  plenty  of  exercise  in  the  open  air,  are 
sometimes  to  be  ranked  among  the  most  efficacious 
means  of  grace. 

Take  the  case  of  the  unhappy  Cowper,  that  man 
of  genius,  baptized  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  whose 
writings  the  Christian  community  is  so  greatly  in- 
debted. A  stranger  to  his  history  would  hardly  be 
brought  to  believe  that,  at  the  very  time  of  writing 
that  most  humorous  of  productions,  "  John  Gilpin," 
in  which  the  very  spirit  of  fun  and  merriment  seems 
embodied,  the  author  was  in  a  state  of  hopeless 
misery  almost  without  a  parallel.  During  much  of 
his  life  he  was  the  slave  of  a  mental  depression  bor- 
dering on  madness.  The  heavens  above  were  star- 
less ;  the  earth  beneath  was,  to  him,  ever  reeling  and 
rocking  over  a  fiery  abyss.  In  a  word,  he  had 
persuaded  himself  that  he  was  a  God-abandoned 
reprobate,  and  actually  died  in  the  horror  of  such  ja 
thought.      Yet    nothing    is  clearer  to  an   attentive 


SER3fONS.  151 

reader  of  his  biography  than  that  the  cause  of  his 
misery  lay  in  a  morbid  organism,  and  might  have 
been  removed  by  seasonable  appliances  to  the  seat  of 
the  disease.  Happy  would  it  have  been  for  the  poor 
valetudinarian,  had  he  been  rescued  from  the  mo- 
notony of  a  sedentary  life,  from  his  easy-chair,  his 
pious  widows,  pet-rabbits,  and  indiscreet,  though  well- 
meaning  clergyman,  who  discoursed  high  theology  to 
him  when  he  should  have  been  sweating  at  the  plough- 
tail,  or  ranging  through  highways  and  byways  on 
a  blooded  English  hunter ;  even  though,  like  that 
-  of  the  renowned  hero  of  his  ballad,  it  should  some- 
times carry  him  farther  than  he  intended  :  had  he, 
in  a  word,  been  thrown  into  the  excitements  and  stir 
of  an  active,  engrossing  occupation.  Let  us  not 
charge  on  religion  what  is  the  effect  of  causes  purely 
physical,  and  which  (the  causes  remaining)  no  piety 
can  cure.  It  is  an  abuse  of  language  to  call  a  greasy 
stomach  or  a  torpid  liver  by  the  sounding  name  of 
spiritual  desertion. 

Superstition  is,  at  times,  an  occasion  of  religious 
depression,  in  those  pious  persons  who  have  en- 
joyed scant  opportunities  of  enlightenment.  There 
is  nothing  so  trifling  which  the  superstitious  and 
over-scrupulous  mind  may  not  magnify  into  an  affair 
of  vital  importance ;  for  example,  the  appearance  of 
a  comet,  the  ticking  of  an  insect  in  rotten  wood,  or 
some  peculiarity  in  the  flame  of  a  candle.  In  this 
case,  the  conscience  is  not  in  a  healthy  state,  but  con- 
tracts a  morbid  irritability,  under  the  influence  of 
which  its  subject  can  say  nothing  and  do  nothing 
without  feeling  an  unnatural  alarm,  —  an  alarm  for 


152  SERMONS. 

which  no  reasonable  account  can  be  given.  Reliance 
on  dreams,  sudden  impressions,  or  what  is  called 
presentiments,  illusive  voices,  imaginary  warnings  of 
the  death  of  distant  friends,  and  other  revelations 
from  the  spiritual  world,  cannot  fail  to  produce  such 
a  distemperature  of  spirit  as  takes  away  all  its  manly 
vigor.  Wild  and  horrible  imaginings,  fostered  by  a 
sort  of  preaching  not  yet  entirely  exploded,  and 
even  by  ecclesiastical  anathemas  concerning  the  na- 
ture of  future  punishment,  as  if  it  consisted  in  literal 
burning  and  other  instrumentalities  of  physical  tor- 
ture,—  one  of  the  stupidest  conceits  that  ever  entered 
the  imagination,  to  craze  it,  and  not  having  a  shadow 
of  foundation  in  the  word  of  God,  —  tend  in  the  same 
direction.  Likewise,  false  notions  of  the  sin  against 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  a  sin,  which,  if  ever  committed 
since  the  Spirit  withdrew  from  the  church  his  sensi- 
ble manifestations,  requires  such  a  rare  concurrence 
of  circumstances  that  its  commission  now  is  simply 
possible.  In  fact,  we  may  trace  a  large  proportion  of 
all  the  instances  of  this  mental  malady  to  some  form 
of  ignorance  and  superstition. 

There  is  a  mode,  for  instance,  of  contemplating 
the  doctrine  of  a  special  providence  which  proves 
a  source  of  much  self-torment.  Instead  of  resting 
satisfied  with  the  general  fact,  so  rational  and  delight- 
ful, that  the  great  Father,  who  orders  all  things 
according  to  the  counsel  of  his  will,  regards  with 
a  special  interest  the  welfare  of  his  people,  many 
Christians  carry  the  matter  so  far,  that  every  incident 
that  befalls  them  and  theirs,  the  most  trivial  occur- 
rence in  domestic  life,  is  interpreted  to  be  a  voice, 


SER310NS.  153 

directly  from  the  throne,  either  of  commendation, 
or  reproof;  and  therefore,  a  sort  of  thermometrical 
gauge,  hy  which  they  are  enabled  to  make  a  shrewd 
guess  at  their  spiritual  condition.  Ever  craying  after 
sensible  proofs  of  their  adoption,  they  look  away  from 
those  placed  within  their  reach,  to  tests  which  will 
certainly  mislead.  They  want  a  sign  from  heaven, 
and  that  sign  they  find  in  the  treatment  they  receive 
from  Providence  in  its  daily  workings.  These  they 
note  with  painful  minuteness,  and  perhaps  record  in 
a  private  journal ;  forgetting  that  God  has  quite  other 
purposes  to  answer  in  his  providential  dealings,  than 
informing  sister  Hepzibah,  or  brother  Smith,  how 
they  stand  in  his  estimation  on  a  particular  morning. 
From  this,  arise  painful  misgivings  ;  fears  that  he  has 
withdrawn  his  tender  mercy;  for  why — they  ask,  and 
on  their  theory  with  perfect  justice  — -  does  he  visit 
them  with  so  many  tokens  of  his  displeasure,  and 
count  them  as  enemies  ?  Thus,  the  excellent  Boston, 
author  of  the  ''  Fourfold  State,"  whose  autobiog- 
raphy is  full  of  such  reminiscences,  was  plunged 
into  a  black  melancholy,  that  lasted  for  weeks,  by  the 
simple  circumstance,  that  one  day,  stepping  from  the 
door-sill,  he  stumbled,  and  sprained  his  ankle.  The 
good  man  refused  to  be  comforted,  and  perhaps 
another  stumble  would  have  so  settled  the  question 
of  his  Christian  hope  that  he  would  have  gone 
mourning  all  his  days.  Meanwhile,  the  true  lesson 
of  this  providence  he  seems  to  have  entirely  over- 
looked, at  least  makes  no  mention  of  it,  namely,  the 
necessity  of  an  elderly  man's  taking  better  heed 
to  his  stoppings.     Nothing  is  more  easy  than  in  this 


154  SERMONS. 

way  poisoning  the  sources  of  happiness ;  and,  usu- 
ally, God  suffers  the  error  to  punish  itself  by  the 
baneful  consequences  that  follow. 

We  may  notice,  as  a  cause  of  depression,  the  appli- 
cation of  some  other  false  tests  in  estimating  Christian 
character.  Every  one,  familiar  with  religious  ex- 
perience, knows  that  it  exhibits  itself  very  differently 
in  different  individuals,  according  to  their  peculiar 
temperaments.  While  the  same  spiritual  life  vivifies 
the  whole  body  of  Christ,  there  is  a  beautiful  variety 
in  its  forms  of  manifestation.  There  are  diversities  of 
gifts,  but  the  same  spirit,  —  differences  of  adminis- 
tration, but  the  same  Lord.  With  some,  the  devo- 
tional  type  is  predominant.  They  love  to  soar  on  the 
wings  of  holy  contemplation,  and  get  away,  where 
they  can  join  the  songs  of  the  glorified  round  the 
great  white  throne.  Others  find  their  chief  en- 
joyment in  the  sphere  of  practical  life.  With 
them  is  predominant  a  sense  of  obligation,  —  of  dutt/. 
They  know  very  little  of  the  ecstasies  and  raptures 
which  some  speak  of;  but  they  are  eflficieiit  tvorkers, 
and  must  be  principally  depended  on  for  the  diffusion 
of  truth  and  holiness  throughout  the  world.  Some, 
like  Paul,  expatiate  con  amove  in  the  field  of  doctrinal 
investigation.  Others,  like  loving  John^  are  always 
found  in  their  Master's  bosom.  Others,  "with  the 
high-souled  James,  are  looking  with  steady  gaze  at 
the  perfect  law  of  liberty. 

There  are  honest  Thomases,  also,  of  an  inquiring 
turn,  always  hungering  and  thirsting  for  evidence ; 
finding  difficulty  in  bringing  up  their  faith  completely 
to  the  approved  standard  regarding  certain  articles, 


SEE3fONS.  155 

considered  by  some  nearly  fundamental.!  Others 
have  a  faculty  of  belief  that  can  swallow  mountains. 
There  are  men  who  can  believe  propositions  astound- 
ing enough  to  startle  inanity  itself,  though  they, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  equally  unfortunate,  who 
have  no  receptivity  whatever,  —  like  a  friend  of  the 
speaker,  who  confessed  that  he  never  could  finally 
persuade  himself  of  the  existence  of  the  city  of 
London,  until  he  found  himself  in  the  middle  of 
it,  looking  up  at  the  cupola  of  St.  Paul's.  Some, 
to  proceed  with  our  remarks,  are  fond  of  the  public 
element  of  religion,  —  neglect  no  occasions  of  being 
present  in  the  house  of  God  on  the  Sabbath,  and  are 
seldom  absent  from  the  more  informal  reunions  dur- 
ing the  week.  Others  delight  to  walk  along  by  the 
silent  shore  of  private  meditation.  There  is,  also,  a 
class  —  which  noisy  bigots  hardly  recognize  as  belong- 
ing to  the  sacramental  host  at  all  —  whose  love 
to  God,  perfectly  sincere,  but  not  demonstrative, 
takes  the  form  of  philanthropy.  There  is  still 
another  class,  of  a  temperament  so  joyous,  that  re- 
ligion with  them  is  a  perpetual  festival ;  they  seem 
ready  to  break  out  in  a  song  or  a  dance.  Opposed  to 
them  are  those  whose  piety  is  of  so  gloomy  a  type 
that  they  seem  just  escaped  from  the  cell  of  a  mon- 
astery. These  varieties  are  in  perfect  accordance  with 
each  other.  None  could  well  be  spared.  All  are 
essential,  like  the  different  strings  of  a  perfect 
musical  instrument,  to  the  grand  diapason,  or  general 
symphony. 

But,  yet,  the  fact  stated  is  often  a  source  of  moral 
anxiety  to  the  Christian.     He  is  conscious  of  a  dole- 


156  SERMONS. 

fill  coming  short  in  many  excellent  gifts  which  others 
possess.  He  has  not  their  measure  of  devotional  feel- 
ing, comparatively  little  experience  of  what  is  called 
communion  with  God.  Even  tlie  spirit  of  prayer  is  not 
that  in  which  he  sees  many  fellow  Christians  rejoice. 
Meanwhile,  he  has  ample  compensation  if  he  only 
knew  it;  more  humility,  more  calm  and  settled 
dependence,  greater  firmness  and  persistency,  and  a 
stronger  sense  of  practical  obligation.  The  process 
of  sanctification  is  going  on,  if  less  ostentatiously,  with 
far  more  depth;  though  he  makes  no  noise  in  the 
street,  nor  lets  loose  a  glib  tongue  in  every  prayer- 
meeting.  Dazzled,  however,  with  the  more  brilliant 
demonstrations  around,  he  writes  the  most  cruelly 
bitter  things  against  himself,  and  is  almost  willing  to 
believe  that  he  is  an  entire  stranger  to  the  grace  of 
God ;  while,  in  sterling  attainment,  he  may  occupy  a 
position  so  immeasurably  superior  as  to  be  out  of 
sight. 

Another  source  of  trouble,  and  a  very  common 
one,  is  a  serious  misapprehension  of  the  gospel  doc- 
trine of  forgiveness.  That  doctrine  is  embraced  in 
the  simple  formula,  level  to  the  comprehension  of  a 
child  :  "  The  grace  of  God  freely  remits  sin  through 
Christ. "^^  When  the  penitent  is  led  to  credit  this,  and 
rest  upon  it  with  childlike  reliance,  not  taking  away 
from  its  rich  pregnancy  of  meaning,  nor  corrupting 
its  purity  by  the  addition  of  any  foreign  element,  his 
alarm  subsides ;  for  peace  of  conscience  naturally  and 
necessarily  follows  a  believing  apprehension  of  the 
blood  of  atonement.  But,  if  he  errs  here,  —  if, 
misunderstanding  the  plan  of  the  gospel,  he  continues 


SERMONS.  157 

to  trust  partly  in  himself,  and  endeavors  to  establish 
a  quasi  righteousness  of  his  own,  not  submitting 
absolutely  and  without  mental  reservation  to  the 
righteousness  of  God,  —  his  distress  is  sure  to  increase ; 
and,  if  other  things  concur,  to  plunge  him  into  a 
settled  gloom.  Though  truly  penitent,  he  does  not 
believe  that  he  is.  Though  invited  freely  to  the 
cross,  he  excludes  himself  from  its  benefits,  for  he 
conceives  that  he  is  at  present  too  great  a  sinner  to 
venture  on  approaching  ;  he  must  make  himself 
better  befbre  he  comes.  In  the  mean  time,  cleaving 
to  the  law  which  only  condemns,  he  labors,  watches, 
prays,  with  the  intensest  earnestness,  but  no  kind  of 
success.  His  laborious  experiments  of  self-improve- 
ment always  turn  out  disastrously,  and  his  life  is 
spent  in  a  Avearisome  drudgery  of  outward  duties 
and  self-inflictions,  which,  instead  of  meliorating  his 
condition,  leave  him  worse  and  more  miserable  than 
before, —  like  the  poor  shirt-woman  in  the  song,  con- 
demned eternally  to  her  ''  sew,  sew,  sew,"  as  the  sole 
means  of  eking  out  a  wretched  existence,  until  even 
this  resource  fails  her,  and  in  utter  hopelessness  she 
lays  herself  down  and  dies.  Many  of  the  truly  pious 
realize  something  of  tliis  in  their  religious  experience. 
They  do  not,  of  course,  die  the  death  eternal ;  but, 
they  are  chastised  till  the  last  moment,  for  the  dis- 
honor they  have  done  to  their  Saviour's  grace.  They 
go  to  heaven,  but  in  a  cloud,  —  not  in  chariots  of  fire 
amid  the  jubilee  of  exulting  angels  and  the  spirits 
of  tlie  just. 

Another  frequent  cause  of  low  spirits,  not  suffi- 
ciently considered,  is  some  wilful  sin  secretly  cher- 

14 


158  SEENOA'-S. 

islied  in  the  heart  and  often  practised  in  the  life.  I 
do  not  alhide  to  sins  of  ignorance  or  infirmity,  nor 
to  the  effects  of  sudden  temptation,  when  the  enemy 
comes  in  like  a  flood,  nor  to  the  imperfections  which 
are  inseparable  from  our  purest  thoughts  and  actions. 
These  ought  not  to  occasion  religious  depression  ;  for 
they  are  incident  to  our  frail  humanity.  But  if  some 
course  of  habitual,  overt  acts  of  criminality,  whether 
open  or  secret,  be  entered  on,  some  palpable  incon- 
sistency admitted,  some  lie  taken  to  the  bosom,  some- 
thing that  lays  waste  the  conscience  or  grieves  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  consequence  frequently  is,  and  ought 
to  be,  a  complete  shutting  off  by  that  divine  agent  of 
his  comforting  influences.  Ephraim  is  wedded  to  an 
idol,  and  the  Lord  will  not  contest  the  matter,  but 
says,  "  Let  him  alone."  The  unhappy  Christian, 
now  fairly  started  on  a  course  of  retrograde  move- 
ment, has,  it  is  likely,  many  checks  of  conscience  and 
warnings  of  mercy.  Probably  some  event  of  a  rousing 
nature  occurs.  Some  awakening  sermon,  or  book,  or  a 
casual  conversation,  startles  him  out  of  his  lethargy. 
He  repents,  and  endeavors  to  return  to  God.  Per- 
haps he  does  return,  at  least  there  is  the  appear- 
ance of  it,  and  he  seems  to  walk  for  a  time  in  deep 
contrition  and  exemplary  watchfulness.  But  the 
reptile  is  scotched,  not  killed  outright.  His  old  pro- 
clivities, after  a  while,  like  a  wound  healed  only  on 
the  surface,  break  out  afresh.  These  declensions  and 
revivings,  these  sinnings  and  repentings,  recur  again 
and  again,  like  the  periodical  intermissions  of  an 
ague.  But  by  each  relapse  his  state  of  mind  becomes 
more  thoroughly  miserable.     He  maintains,  perhaps. 


^SERMONS.  159 

fair  appearances  before  his  friends, —  miglity  in  a 
prayer-meeting,  a  Boanerges  in  the  pulpit,  —  hut  a 
worm  secretly  gnaws  his  vitals,  and  a  hidden  fire 
drinks  up  his  spirit. 

In  addition  to  these  causes  o&  inward  grief,  long- 
continued  affliction  must  likewise  be  mentioned.  It 
is  very  common  to  talk  flippantly  on  this  subject. 
Few  things  are  more  easy  than  to  bear  with  Christian 
patience  and  magnanimity  the  trials  of  others.  We 
are  full  of  matter,  as  Elihu  says ;  our  belly  is  ready  to 
burst  as  new  bottles  when  we  recommend  submission 
to  a  suffering  friend ;  but  to  feel  the  scourge  on  our 
own  backs  is  a  very  different  matter.  If  the  calamity 
be  not  of  that  overwhelming  character,  which,  like 
the  tornado,  strikes  down  everything  before  it, 
blanching  the  hair  and  breaking  the  heart  at  once,  it 
may  be  sustained.  But  if  otherwise,  —  if  sorrows 
come,  as  the  poet  says,  "  not  as  single  spies,  but  in 
battalions ; "  if  they  touch  us  precisely  in  the  most 
vulnerable  part,  or  if  they  be  continued  and  compli- 
cated, stroke  following  stroke,  snapping  in  rapid  suc- 
cession all  the  ties  which  bind  us  to  life,  —  we  may 
claim  a  lofty  heroism  which  even  patient  Job  had  not, 
if  we  find  that  our  spirits  begin  not  to  fail.  A 
little  of  the  wholesome  discipline  of  trial,  like  a  little 
persecution,  braces  up  the  soul.  A  man  with  head 
erect,  can  walk  right  into  it ;  but  it  is  very  different 
when  deep  calls  unto  deep,  at  the  noise  of  God's 
waterspouts,  and  all  his  billows  go  over  us. 

I  mention,  lastly,  the  hiding  of  God's  countenance. 
This  is  not  an  imaginary  trouble,  nor,  as  the  strangers 
to  living  piety  are  fond  of  supposing,  a  form  and  out- 


160  sEE^fOXS. 

growth  of  fanaticism.  There  is  a  mysterious  com- 
munion with  the  Author  of  blessedness,  when  God 
and  the  soul  seem  to  touch,  which  it  is  the  privilege 
and  high  happiness  of  the  renewed  mind  to  experi- 
ence, though  unable.to  define  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
satisfy  a  mere  earthly  logic,  or  impart  a  knowledge  of 
it  to  other  minds  ;  and  when  it  is  intercepted,  nothing- 
can  be  more  forlorn  and  dreary  than  the  state  of 
eclipse  which  follows.  Under  other  inflictions  it  may 
be  conceived  possible  to  bear  up.  But,  when  God 
withdraws  the  light  of  his  countenance  from  a  spirit 
susceptible  of  and  habituated  to  its  enjoyment,  the 
loss  is  intolerable.  Our  Lord,  in  the  hour  of  his  un- 
paralleled suffering,  did  not  complain  till  he  came  to 
this  part  of  his  cup.  But  then  he  did  complain.  He 
could  not  bear  it,  but  gives  vent  to  his  bursting  an- 
guish in  that  memorable  exclamation,  "  My  God,  my 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  " 

Enough  has  probably  been  said  on  the  causes  of 
disease  in  question.     We  proceed, 

Secondly,  to  treat  of  its  cure.  Now,  there  are  three 
very  different  methods  of  bringing  about  this  desirable 
issue.  The  one  is  adopted  by  the  man  of  the  world 
when  he  falls  in  with  a  case  which  he  wishes  to  re- 
lieve. The  second  is  that  of  the  injudicious  thovigh 
well-meaning  Christian  friend ;  who,  in  applying  it, 
often  does  more  harm  than  good,  —  his  prescription 
being  as  apt  to  kill  as  to  cure.  The  third  is  that 
which  we  recommend,  and  which  we  shall  speak  of 
after  briefly  noticing  the  others. 

The  man  of  the  world  has  a  sincere  compassion 
for  one  laboring  under  religious  dejection,  but,  not 


SERMONS.  161 

understanding  the  pathology  of  the  case,  cannot 
direct  him  to  the  proper  remedy.  He  simplifies  the 
matter  exceedingly.  Like  the  medical  theorist  who 
admits  of  but  one  disease  in  the  human  system,  or 
the  musician  who  plays  on  a  single  string,  he  provides 
a  single  cause  for  all  the  forms  of  the  evil.  With 
him  it  is  vapor,  a  morbid  state  of  the  imagination, 
which  he  calls  the  blues,  and  he  proposes  diversion, 
pleasure,  dissipation,  as  a  universal  antidote.  When 
these  methods  are  employed  without  discrimination, 
as  they  too  often  are,  the  effect  may  be  easily  conjec- 
tured. Undoubtedly,  they  may  remove  lowness  of 
spirits  for  a  time  ;  but  it  is  often  by  generating  a 
still  more  dangerous  disease,  disregard  of  God  and 
insensibility  of  conscience,  which,  if  they  continue, 
must  issue  in  the  absolute  ruin  of  the  soul.  "  Be- 
hold, all  ye  that  kindle  a  fire,  that  compass  your- 
selves about  with  sparks,  this  shall  ye  have  of  mine 
hand,  saith  the  Lord  ;  ye  shall  lie  down  in  sorrow.'' 
The  second  mode  is  adopted  by  the  injudicious 
Christian  friend  (like  the  author  of  a  tract  on  Assur- 
ance, that  has  been  making  some  noise  in  our 
churches).  In  one  respect  there  is  a  strong  likeness 
between  this  kind  of  adviser  and  the  man  of  the 
world.  He,  too,  is  apt  to  play  on  one  string.  With- 
out weighing  different  circumstances,  he  proposes  the 
same  remedy  in  every  instance.  He  would  comfort 
at  all  events,  and  through  all  impediments.  Instead 
of  examining  the  several  causes  of  grief,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  appropriate  applications,  he  at  once 
holds  forth  such  an  exhibition  of  the  gospel  as  en^ 
courages  sin  ;  separating  its  consolations  from  that 

14* 


162  SERMONS. 

holy  diligence  in  renouncing  evil  habits  which  is 
essential  to  the  attainment  of  true  comfort.  This  is  to 
administer  an  opiate,  which  composes,  indeed,  but 
by  stupefying.  This  is  to  "  heal  the  hurt  of  the 
daugliter  of  my  people  "  slightly,  saying,  "  Peace, 
peace,  when  there  is  no  peace." 

The  considerate  and  wise  adviser,  when  called  in, 
proceeds  by  another  method.  He  will  not  speak  com- 
fort except  on  solid  grounds.  He  endeavors  to  dis- 
cern the  things  that  differ,  and  thus  "  show  himself 
approved  of  God,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed,  rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth."  For 
example :  If  there  is  ground  for  believing  that  the 
sufferer  labors  under  bodily  maladies^  he  will  recom- 
mend, in  the  first  instance,  hodily  remedies^  —  in  a 
word,  due  attention  to  health.  If  his  spirits  are 
broken  by  excessive  study,  or  constant  fagging  at  a 
sedentary  occupation,  he  will  advise  him  to  unbend 
the  bow,  to  take  a  voyage,  keep  a  horse,  cultivate  a 
little  farm,  or  join  a  cricket  club.  He  will  teach  him 
to  distinguish  between  the  natural  consequences  of 
bodily  disease,  and  the  effects  of  the  displeasure  of 
God ;  so  that  he  will  see  the  utter  folly  of  attempt- 
ing to  cure  the  low  spirits  induced  by  the  former  in 
any  other  way  than  obedience  to  the  laws  which 
govern  the  animal  machine, — laws  which  he  can  no 
more  alter  by  prayers  and  texts  of  Scripture,  than  he 
can  alter  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes,  or  the  pas- 
sage of  the  sun  through  the  zodiac.  In  short,  re- 
ligious counsellors  should  think  of  the  wise  and  sa- 
gacious Isaiah,  who,  called  in  to  prescribe  for  the 
terrible  dejection  of  good  khig  Hezekiah,  preached 


SEEMONS.  16'3 

no  sermon,  but  applied  a  ponltice  for  a  plaster  :  "  Let 
them  take  a  lump  of  figs  and  lay  it  on  the  boil,  and 
he  will  recover."  If  he  perceives  him  harassed  by  su- 
perstitious fears,  he  will  exhort  him  to  study  the 
Bible  with  the  aid  of  a  rational  commentator,  or  dip 
into  some  popular  book  of  natural  science.  He  will 
endeavor  to  enlarge  his  mind  in  sliort ;  to  show  him 
tliat  sheer  ignorance  caused  his  panic  terrors,  and 
to  make  him  ashamed  of  that  ignorance.  I  once 
knew  a  young  person,  who  had  scarce  entered  her 
teens,  kept  in  such  constant  fright  by  the  ticking  of 
what  seemed  a  watch  at  the  head  of  her  bed,  por- 
tending, as  she  thought,  a  speedy  death,  that  she  lost 
her  health  and  appetite,  and  gave  every  indication 
of  falling  into  a  decline.  After  long  concealing  tlie 
dreadful  secret,  she  one  day  confessed  it  to  her  father, 
who  smilingly  took  down  from  the  shelf  a  book  of 
natural  history,  and  pointed  out  the  insect  that  pro- 
duced the  noise,  explaining  at  the  same  time  how  it 
was  done.  The  effect  was  instantaneous.  The  child 
recovered  her  health  and  spirits  almost  in  a  moment, 
bounded  up  in  an  ecstasy,  clapped  her  hands  and  ex- 
claimed, "  0  dear  father,  what  a  world  of  misery  I 
have  endured,  that  would  soon  have  put  me  in  my 
cold,  dark  grave ;  and  all  because  I  did  not  under- 
stand the  drumming  of  a  dear  little  bug  that  was 
kindly  entertaining  me  with  its  music !  "  In  the  dis- 
tress springing  from  a  misapprehension  of  the  plan 
of  the  gospel,  the  wise  counsellor  will  expatiate  on 
the  free,  pardoning  love  of  God.  He  will  tell  the 
desponding  penitent  that  God  delighteth  in  mercy,  that 
he  has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  sinner,  but 


1G4  SERMONS. 

would  rather  that  he  should  turn  to  him  and  live. 
When  the  Father  sees  the  returning  prodigal  afar  off, 
he  runs  forward,  falls  on  his  neck  and  kisses  him. 
God  is  love. 

Another  topic,  in  this  case,  will  be  the  all-suffi- 
ciency of  the  death  and  intercession  of  the  Saviour. 
What  can  exceed  the  merits  of  our  incarnate 
Lord  ?  What  surpass  the  virtue  of  his  sacrifice  ? 
Did  he  not  die  the  just  for  the  unjust  ?  Is  not 
his  death  a  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world  ?  Was  not  the  law  fulfilled,  the  moral  govern- 
ment of  God  honored,  justice  appeased,  and  the  de- 
mands of  holiness  answered?  Is  not  Christ  now  in 
heaven  as  our  intercessor,  and  is  he  not  able  to  save 
to  the  uttermost  ?  Shall  a  man  presume  to  say 
that  his  sins  are  too  great  to  be  expiated  by  such  a 
mighty  undertaker,  who,  even  in  the  days  of  his  weak- 
ness raised  the  dead,  and,  by  the  speaking  of  a  word, 
hushed  the  furious  tempest  into  a  sabbath  calm  ? 

The  free  and  unlimited  offer  of  the  gospel  is  likewise 
an  appropriate  means  of  relief.  "  Whosoever  will,  let 
him  come."  Jesus  stood  and  cried  :  "  If  any  man 
thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink,  and  out  of 
his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water."  "  Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest."  Let  the  child  of  sorrow  listen  to 
these  accents  of  mercy  till  his  soul  drinks  in  their  ful- 
ness of  blessed  meaning.  Let  him  acknowledge  the 
misery  and  disappointment  which  have  attended  his 
most  strenuous  efforts  to  become  really  holy  on  the  plan 
of  self-reliance  he  has  at  present  adopted.  What  a  poor, 
weak,  and  depraved  being  is  he  !     For  such  a  crea- 


SEEJilONS.  165 

ture,  so  fallen,  and  alienated  from  the  life  of  God,  to 
purchase  heaven,  or  to  change  his  own  heart,  or  even 
contribute  to  it  by  any  direct  efficiency,  is  impossible. 
As  well  may  a  paralytic  be  told  to  rise  up  and  walk. 
He  can  do  nothing  free  from  sin,  even  though  deliver- 
ance from  eternal  death  were  the  reward  of  tliat 
single  deed.  Let  him,  then,  with  his  anxious,  horror- 
stricken  mind,  cast  himself  before  the  mercy-seat  for 
free  justification  and  effectual  help,  humbly  imploring 
the  Divine  Spirit  to  impart,  the  consolation  arising 
from  the  pardon  of  his  sins  by  the  death  of  Christ, 
and  ability  to  serve  him  in  newness  of  life.  Never 
will  he  attain  enlargedness  of  heart,  or  taste  the  full 
happiness  of  a  religious  life,  until  he  has  acquired 
the  divine  art  of  "casting  himself  wholly  on  the 
Lord,"  taking  hold  of  his  strength  to  be  at  peace 
with  him." 

But  when  the  depression  arises  from  indulgence  in 
some  course  of  sin,  whether  secret  or  open,  the  faithful 
physician  must  adopt  quite  a  different  therapeutics  : 
here  grace  and  the  privileges  of  the  gospel  are  not 
the  topics  to  be  employed,  at  least  until  much  pre- 
liminary work  has  been  accomplished,  and  that 
tJioroiighly .  The  conscience  must  first  be  roused 
from  its  asphyxed  state  to  do  its  office.  The  whole 
moral  condition  of  the  individual,  tlie  heart,  the  af- 
fections, the  conduct,  must  be  subjected  to  a  rigid 
scrutiny  ;  for  the  only  effectual  remedy,  in  such  a 
case,  is  to  eradicate  the  cause  of  the  mischief.  The 
poisoned  tree  must  not  be  pruned,  nor  simply  cut 
down,  but  torn  up  by  the  roots.  If  prayer  in  secret 
has  been  neglected,  —  habits  unfavorable  to  the  growth 


166  SERMONS. 

of  religion  have  boen  indulged ;  if  a  lax  and  remiss 
walk  with  God  has  been  admitted ;  if  lust  or  covet- 
ousness,  or  pride,  or  pleasure,  or  wrath,  have  gradu- 
ally got  possession  of  the  sceptre  so  as  to  control  the 
practical  will ;  if  he  slanders,  or  refuses  to  pay  his 
just  dues,  or  keeps  false  weights,  —  the  advice  to  be 
given  is  perfectly  obvious :  we  must  part  from  our 
si7is,  or  our  religion.  There  is  no  middle  way.  Any 
one  habitual  transgression,  deliberately  committed, 
undermines  all  the  moral  energies  of  tlie  soul,  and 
positively  excludes  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
"  Let  no  man  deceive  you  with  vain  words,  for  be- 
cause of  such  things  the  wrath  of  God  cometh  on  the 
children  of  disobedience."  '^  Know  ye  not  that  to 
whom  ye  yield  yourselves  servants  to  obey,  his  ser- 
vants ye  are  whom  ye  obey,  whether  of  sin  unto 
death,  or  obedience  unto  righteousness  ?  "  It  is  of 
no  consequence,  how  necessary  the  passion  or  prac- 
tice may  have  become  to  you.  It  may  be  as  dear  as 
a  right  eye  or  right  hand  ;  but,  though  dear  as  life 
itself,  you  must  renounce  it.  Christian  professor,  or 
God  will  renounce  you.  To  persist  in  the  forbidden 
thing  for  a  single  day  may  have  eternal  issues.  To' 
excuse  or  hide  it  by  an  affected  sanctity  in  other 
respects,  by  austere  punctiliousness  in  matters  of  the 
tithe,  mint,  and  cumin,  is  only  adding  one  crimi- 
nality to  another,  and  doubling  the  peril :  one  thing 
is  certain,  your  depression  will  continue.  Your  very 
conversion  becomes  a  serious  question,  and  can  only 
be  resolved  in  your  favor  by  promptly  returning  to 
the  King's  highway  which  you  have  so  unwisely  and 
wickedly  deserted. 


SERMONS.  167 

In  illustration  of  this,  let  me  give  an  anecdote  re- 
corded of  that  remarkable  man  of  God,  whose  praise 
is  in  the  churches,  the  Kev.  Asahel  Nettleton.  A 
clerical  friend  was  assisting  him  in  New  Haven, 
during  a  great  revival  of  religion  which  was  in 
progress,  and,  in  passing  through  the  circle  of  in- 
quirers, he  came  upon  a  man  who  had  long  made  a 
profession  of  religion,  but  suffered  under  such  a  ter- 
rible dejection  of  spirit  that  he  was  ready  to  give  up 
all  as  lost ;  and  had  come  to  the  conference  to  know 
if  anything  could  be  done  for  one  in  so  hopeless  a 
condition.  The  clergyman  related  the  interview  to 
Mr.  Nettleton,  who,  after  a  slight  pause,  replied: 
"I  think  I  know  the  man,  and  I  know  the  cause 
of  his  trouble.  In  my  conversations  with  him  I 
have  repeatedly  taken  in  his  breath,  which  indicated 
a  pretty  free  use  of  liquor,  not  probably  to  the  ex- 
tent of  intoxication,  but  in  sufficient  measure  to 
intercept  communication  with  the  source  of  all  spirit- 
ual comfort ;  for  I  have  always  observed,"  he  added, 
with  his  peculiar  intonation,  "  that  the  two  excite- 
ments, that  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
still,  can  never  live  together.^'  A  day  or  two  after,  he 
frankly  disclosed  his  suspicions  to  the  individual. 
With  strong  crying  and  tears  he  admitted  the  charge, 
solemnly  abjured  the  practice  of  alcoholic  stimula- 
tion, and  in  a  short  time  was  rejoicing  with  the  hap- 
piest in  the  peace  that  passes  understanding.  Yerily, 
it  is  a  truth,  which  we  all  should  remember  with 
great  searchings  of  soul,  "  If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my 
heart,  the  Lord  will  not  hear  me." 

Should,  however,  long-continued,  stunning  affile- 


168  SERMONS. 

tions  be  the  principal  cause  of  grief,  the  sufferer's  view 
should  be  taken  off  from  Jus  own  i? articular  trouble^ 
and  directed  to  God's  general  dealings  with  his  ser- 
vants. ''  Whom  the  Lord  loveth,  he  chasteneth."  He 
must  also  have  his  mind  kept  closely  pressed  with  the 
remembrance  of  his  demerits.  "  Wherefore  should  a 
living  man  complain,  —  a  man  for  the  punishment  of 
his  sins  ? "  Nor  will  the  suggestion  be  unprofitable,  that 
to  reach  heaven  at  last,  no  matter  through  how  many- 
fires  we  must  pass,  is  infinitely  better  than  a  smooth, 
flowery  way  to  hell.  Salvation  is  a  blessing  worth  a 
thousand  times  its  cost,  cost  what  it  may.  The  sor- 
rows encountered  on  the  road,  if  we  are  duly  ex- 
ercised by  them,  will  only  heighten  the  joy  that 
awaits  its  termination.  Only,  then,  raise  your  hearts 
to  the  source  of  all  light  and  consolation,  the  Elder 
Brother,  who  trod  the  dolorous  way  before  you, 
and  hear  him  saying  in  the  darkest  hour,  "  Fear  not, 
neither  be  dismayed ;  I  will  strengthen  thee,  yea,  I 
will  uphold  thee  with  the  right  arm  of  my  righteous- 
ness." In  a  word,  let  the  child  of  affliction  never  give 
up  Jiojoe.  With  this  sheet-anchor  he  can  defy  the 
most  driving  tempest  that  ever  blew  ;  ivitJiout  it,  he 
will  make  shipwreck,  should  a  zephyr  breathe  a  little 
rudely.  "  Do  but  despair,"  says  our  great  poet, 
"  do  but  despair,  and  if  thou  wantest  a  cord,  the 
smallest  thread  that  ever  spider  wove  will  strangle 
thee." 

I  have  one  word  to  add  for  the  consideration  of  my 
irreligious  readers,  and  it  is  this  :  that  though  they 
may  amuse  themselves  and  others  with  the  dejection 
which    sincere  Christians    often    endure,   and    crack 


SERMONS.  169 

many  a  merry  joke  on  the  long  faces  they  pretend  to 
see  among  them,  yet  they  have  exceedingly  small 
reason  for  self-congratulation.  They  are  free  from 
religious  fears,  and  ivh^  P  I  say,  ivhi/  f  Because 
they  are  ivithout  religion.  The  fears  of  a  pious  man 
are  frequently  ungrounded,  but  those  of  an  ungodly 
one  always  come  short  of  the  reality ;  and,  though 
they  may  be  repressed  just  now.,  will  overtake  him 
at  last  with  crushing  force.  A  careless  life  is  very 
apt  to  be  followed  by  a  wretched  death.  To  be  with- 
out the  occasional  sadness  which  preys  upon  the 
spirit  of  the  faint-hearted  Christian,  might  be  very 
well ;  but  to  be  without  his  repentance,  his  faith,  his 
love,  his  hope  of  heaven,  —  deficient  in  liveliness  as 
it  may  be,  —  indicates  a  state  of  extreme  and  ur- 
gent peril.  If  there  is  a  reasonable  fear  in  the 
world,  the  man  has  grounds  for  it  who  finds  him- 
self in  this  predicament.  Let  him,  before  it  is  too 
late,  rouse  all  his  powers  to  seek  after  God.  Let  him 
flee  for  mercy  to  the  foot  of  the  cross.  Then,  and 
then  only,  will  he  be  able  to  judge  aright  of  the  re- 
ligious dejection  of  those  whom  he  now  despises ;  and 
will  acknowledge  that  their  sharpest  griefs  are  more 
to  be  desired  than  the  worldling's  finest  joys. 

15 


Do  YOUR  Own  Business. 


VIII. 

DO    YOUR   OWN  BUSINESS. 


Thess.  4:11.     giub  ll^at  gc  stubg  to  ht  quwt,  auJ)  to  I10  jionr  oian  fausiiuss. 


HERE  are  subjects  in  practical  religion  of 
vital  importance,  affecting  the  very  essence 
of  Christianity  as  a  guide  of  human  conduct, 
which  its  official  expounders  are  tempted  to 
quietly  pass  over ;  or,  when  on  rare  occasions  present- 
ed, handle  with  silken  gloves,  under  the  influence  of 
two  different  feelings.  The  one  is  an  apprehension, 
not  always  ill-founded,  that  the  faithful  insisting  on 
them  may  subject  to  the  imputation  of  singling  out  a 
particular  class  of  hearers,  or  individuals  belonging  to 
that  class,  as  the  butt  of  acrimonious  personalities, — 
a  mean  and  odious  practice,  from  which  every  honor- 
able mind  recoils.  The  other  is,  a  fear  that  they  will 
be  departing  from  their  proper  work,  which  is  not  to 
preach  law^  but  gospel;  as  if  the  inculcation  of  social 
duties  was  not  a  part  of  it,  and  as  if  our  Lord's  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  did  not  almost  wholly  consist  of 
utterances  on  the  very  subjects  which  they,  with 
many  of  their  hearers,  would  almost  banish  from 
the  pulpit.  The  slightest  examination  of  the  New 
Testament  will  refute  this  pernicious  error.  The 
truth  is,  and  cannot  be  denied  or  evaded,  that  a  large 

15* 


174  SEEMONS. 

proportion  of  its  subject-matter  stands  in  immediate 
relation,  not  to  peculiarities  of  doctrine,  —  though 
these  are  always  assumed  as  the  foundation,  —  but  to 
duties  of  the  practical  life.  They  are  sometimes 
spoken  of  by  good  men,  whose  phylacteries  are 
broader  than  their  understanding,  as  "  husks  of  dry 
morality."  But  they  are  husks  which  all  of  us  need 
to  be  mixed  in  at  least  with  our  richer  aliment, 
which,  taken  alone,  would  be  too  concentrated  for 
our  feeble  powers  of  digestion.  Many  a  religious 
professor  suffers  from  the  neglect  of  this  caution. 
That  exquisite  moral  sensibility,  which  starts  back 
with  horror  from  the  smallest  violation  of  relative  du- 
ties to  his  fellow-men,  has  not  been  cultivated.  The 
second  table  of  the  law  has  not  been  driven  home  to 
the  conscience,  written  there  as  if  with  the  point  of  a 
diamond.  Hence  his  conduct  in  reference  to  it  cannot 
bear  a  very  close  inspection.  His  mental  health  is 
evidently  not  robust ;  his  diet  (to  use  a  figure)  is  too 
saccharine  ;  instead  of  chalybeate  and  exercise,  his 
professional  adviser  has  put  him  on  a  course  of  God- 
frey's cordial,  which  soothes  for  an  hour,  but  weakens 
all  the  springs  of  life.  On  the  Sabbath  he  weeps  de- 
voutly under  the  melting  influence  of  an  excellent  ser- 
mon on  justification  by  faith,  or  on  the  great  and  pre- 
cious promises.  On  Monday,  if  the  truth  were  known, 
he  may  be  seen  manipulating  with  a  somewhat  ab- 
breviated yard-stick,  or  practising  some  other  of  the 
thousand  tricks  of  dishonesty  by  which  men  contrive 
to  defraud  each  other  without  fear  of  the  civil  tribu- 
nal. Such  cases,  we  hope,  are  not  numerous,  but  are 
frequent  enough  to  put  a  weapon  into  the  hands  of 


SEEMONS.  175 

the  mocking  infidel,  with  wliich  he  attacks,  not  spuri- 
ous pretences  to  religion,  but  religion  itself.  May 
not  this  want  of  rigid  conscientiousness,  —  not  to 
call  it  by  the  harsher  name  of  practical  antino- 
mianism,  —  in  the  daily  business  and  intercourse  of 
life,  be  attributed  in  some  degree  to  the  cause  which 
has  been  mentioned  ? 

This  is  our  apology  for  introducing  a  topic  seldom 
treated,  except  in  the  way  of  general  allusion,  be- 
cause belonging  to  an  unpopular  class,  and  not  un- 
popular only,  but  branded,  by  some,  as  almost  il- 
legitimate. The  apostle,  however,  is  evidently  of  a 
different  opinion,  as  you  see  he  does  not  scruple  to 
give  it  a  place  in  his  inspired  teachings.  His  train 
of  thought  is  the  following :  He,  in  the  first  place, 
exhorts  his  Thessalonian  friends  to  "  study  to  be 
quiet ;  "  by  which  we  may  understand,  a  sincere  en- 
deavor to  attain  such  a  happy  composure  of  mind 
that  no  agitations  of  disorderly  passion,  nor  any  out- 
ward assaults  of  fortune  shall  be  able  to  rufHe  it. 
A  most  desirable  condition  indeed,  if  connected,  as  it 
always  should  be,  with  faith  in  an  all-wise,  heavenly 
Providence.  When  the  soul  has  struggled  up  to 
this  calm  repose  in  God,  this  sacred  elevation  above 
the  pleasures  and  pains  of  the  earthly  life,  it  has 
already  attained,  in  germ,  its  proper  heaven,  and  can 
form  a  not  indistinct  notion  of  that  completeness  of 
felicity  which  awaits  it  beyond  the  grave.  Let  no 
one  object  that  such  a  state  must  not  be  looked  for 
here.  There  is  no  perfection,  it  is  true,  in  anything 
beneath  the  sun.  But  what  we  say  and  maintain  is, 
that  the  soul  may  make  constant  advances  in  this  di- 


176  SERMONS. 

rection,  and  the  recorded  experience  of  not  a  few, 
but  many,  who,  like  saintly  Enoch,  walked  with  God 
until  "  he  took  them,"  proves  that  the  ideas,  enter- 
tained by  the  ancient  sages,  of  a  profound  philo- 
sophical serenity  attainable  in  this  life,  are  not  en- 
tirely dreams. 

It  is  not  to  be  reached,  however,  without  strenuous 
efforts.  We  must "  study  "  for  it,  says  Paul,— work  be- 
fore rest.  We  live  in  the  midst  of  noise,  fierce  struggle, 
and  endless  agitation  ;  among  scenes  where  objects 
continually  present  themselves  calculated  to  break  in 
upon  the  most  confirmed  habits  of  tranquillity;  a 
world  of  sin,  affliction,  death.  And,  moreover,  every 
man  has  a  "  world "  of  turbulent  passions  in  his 
bosom,  which  are  not  to  be  kept  under  without  vigor- 
ous exertion.  But,  lest  the  apostle's  doctrine  be 
misunderstood,  he  adds  the  very  important  caution, 
"  doing  your  own  business."  So  far  from  intend- 
ing, by  the  virtue  he  recommends,  a  stupid,  idle 
apathy,  like  that  of  a  Hindoo  devotee  or  a  cloistered 
monk,  he  declares  it  to  be  necessarily  connected  with 
action,  with  diligence,  and  untiring  assiduity  in  per- 
forming the  duties  appropriate  to  the  place  and  sta- 
tion we  occupy  in  the  world.  But  this  is  not  all. 
His  words  convey  another  most  pregnant  and  weighty 
intimation,  namely,  that  it  is  our  own  business  which 
we  must  do,  and  not  that  of  other  people ;  giving  us 
distinctly  to  imderstand  that  of  all  enemies  to  true 
Christian  quiet,  the  greatest  is  an  officious  thrusting 
ourselves  forward  into  matters  which  do  not  belong 
to  us.  This  is  the  thought  on  which  I  propose  to 
enlarge. 


SERMONS.  177 

There  is  no  creature  so  generally  despised  as  a 
meddler  ;  and  yet  how  few  there  are  innocent  enough 
in  the  matter  to  cast  stones  at  their  offending  neigh- 
bor !  It  is  not  my  design  to  show  him  up  by  a  com- 
plete dissection,  but  only  to  point  out  two  or  three 
classes  of  people  whom,  doubtless,  the  apostle  had 
directly  in  his  eye,  and  some  of  whom  may  be  in 
mine,  though  I  do  not  know  it. 

We  naturally  take  notice,  in  the  first  place,  of  the 
more  harmless  class  of  persons  obnoxious  to  the 
charge,  though  they  are  by  no  means  innocent,  ex- 
cept by  comparison.  I  mean  those  little,  bustling 
searchers  after  news,  who,  without  any  definite  mo- 
tive, good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  but  under  a  consti- 
tutional weakness  of  mind,  busy  themselves  with 
collecting  and  placing  in  their  budget  every  event, 
great  or  small,  true  or  false,  that  may  be  said  to 
have  occurred  within  the  circuit  of  half  a  county,  — 
gathering  up  the  fragments  that  nothing  be  left. 
These  are,  in  their  small  way,  extraordinary  person- 
ages. In  their  sphere,  you  would  take  thena  to  be  so 
many  little  gods,  for  they  seem  to  possess  the  attribute 
of  omniscience.  Scarcely  a  circumstance  escapes 
them.  They  know  precisely  what  happened  at  such 
a  time,  in  such  a  place,  in  such  a  family ;  how  far,  to 
a  hair,  such  an  interesting  business  between  certain 
parties  is  advanced;  what  the  father  said,  and  the 
mother,  and  the  kindred  in  general ;  when  it  shall 
be  brought  to  a  close  ;  and  surcharged  with  this 
precious  intelligence,  they  run  to  and  fro  with  the 
most  generous  anxiety  to  make  everybody  as  wise  as 
themselves.     Hold  silence,  they  cannot.     Like  Elihu, 


178  SERMONS. 

in  Job,  they  say,  "  I  am  full  of  matter  :  "  —  "  ready 
to  burst  like  new  bottles." 

It  must  be  conceded  that  the  masses  of  in- 
formation thus  obtained  are  not  always  to  be  relied 
on.  But  why  expect  that  such  magnificent  piles 
of  knowledge,  collected  in  a  thousand  ways,  from 
a  thousand  sources,  should  be  reliable  ?  The  won- 
der is  that  the  adepts  in  this  department  of  doing 
other  people's  business  contrive  to  elicit  so  many 
grains  of  truth,  often  under  circumstances  the  most 
unfavorable  that  can  be  imagined.  There  is  no 
escaping  behind  thick  clouds  or  stone  walls  from 
their  eagle-eye  ;  it  penetrates  the  darkest  shade  of 
concealment,  detects  mysteries  secret  as  the  grave, 
and  sees  while  yet  very  far  off. 

I  have  called  these  the  more  innocent  class  of 
meddlers,  because  they  appear  to  be  actuated  by  lit- 
tleness of  mind,  not  principles  positively  bad,  and 
are,  in  fact,  rather  childish  than  wicked.  They  are 
generally  to  be  found  among  the  ignorant  and  idle, 
—  those,  who,  destitute  of  solid  knowledge  and  above 
the  necessity  of  unremitting  exertions  for  their  sup- 
port, find  time  lying  heavy  on  their  hands.  Hence 
the  striking  and  curious  description,  given  by  St. 
Paul,  of  the  younger  widows,  in  the  fifth  chapter 
of  his  first  epistle  to  Timothy,  where  he  represents 
them  as  idle,  wandering  about  from  house  to  house  ; 
and  not  only  idle,  but  tattlers  also,  and  busy-bodies. 
Being  left  probably  in  a  state  of  worldly  comfort, 
but  entirely  without  that  mental  cultivation  which 
would  enable  them  to  find  resources  in  writing,  read- 
ing, painting,  music,  and  their  own  thoughts,  they 


SERMONS.  179 

were  forced  to  seek  enjoyment  in  the  company  of 
their  neighbor  ;  became  daily,  perhaps  half-daily  visi- 
tors, and,  by  an  easy  process,  settled  down  into  item- 
mongers  and  gossipers ;  for  this  was  the  natural  con- 
sequence. The  moment  they  discovered  that  their 
comfort  materially  depended  on  a  walk  to  a  friend's 
house  in  the  neighborhood,  they  felt  under  impera- 
tive obligations  to  administer  of  such  things  as  they 
had  to  his  or  her  entertainment.  How,  otherwise, 
make  sure  of  a  steady  welcome  ?  And  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact,  that,  however  sensible  people  despise 
these  little  busy  hummers  of  society,  they  often  listen 
to  their  stories  with  considerable  giisto^  provided  they 
discover  no  indications  of  malignity,  or  what  is  called 
a  bad  heart. 

Leaving  for  the  present  these  gnats  of  conversa- 
tion, who  buzz,  but  inflict  no  venomous  wound,  I  pro- 
ceed to  take  notice  of  a  more  hateful  class,  with 
which  society  is  cursed  in  too  great  abundance.  I 
mean  those,  who,  actuated  by  natural  spite  and  malev- 
olence, interfere  with  their  neighbors  only  to  produce 
mischief,  —  inventing  and  carrying  about  the  most 
atrocious  stories,  with  their  whole  souls  endeavoring 
to  blow  up  the  coals  of  contention  between  friends 
and  relatives,  —  the  father  against  the  son,  and  son 
against  the  father ;  the  husband  against  the  wife,  and 
the  wife  against  the  husband.  How  any  in  human 
form,  above  all,  how  any  professing  discipleship  to 
the  loving  Jesus,  can  delight  in  such  infernal  accom- 
plishments, is  difficult  to  explain.  But  the  fact  is 
unquestionable  that  there  are  such  officious  demons, 
perhaps  with  smiling  faces  and  silvery  tongues,  who 


180  SERMONS. 

scarcely  seem  to  take  pleasure  in  anything  beneath 
the  sun,  except  in  sowing  suspicion  and  enmity  in 
the  bosom  of  confidence  and  tender  affection.  The 
worst  of  the  matter  is,  these  wretches  too  often  suc- 
ceed in  their  attempts  ;  for  the  credulous,  good- 
natured  man,  when  he  comes  in  contact  with  such  an 
one,  is  ready  to  argue,  "  Surely,  this  worthy  person 
speaks  out  of  pure  honesty  and  particular  regard  for 
me.  Why  else  should  he  concern  himself?  It  is 
none  of  his  business."  And  thus,  for  the  very  reason 
that  should  induce  him  to  abhor  the  venomous  crea- 
ture, lift  it  up,  and  cast  it  out  of  the  door  or  window, 
he  takes  it  to  his  confidence  and  becomes  its  victim. 

Under  the  same  head  we  place  those,  who,  though 
not  directly  with  the  view  of  sundering  the  ties  of 
friendship  and  intimacy,  but  from  a  censorious  and 
fault-finding  spirit  in  general^  occupy  much  of  their 
spare  time  and  discourse  in  condemning  their  breth- 
ren, and  passing  uncharitable  judgments  on  their  con- 
duct. Is  a  man  of  a  free,  sprightly  temperament,  — 
he  shall  be  called  loose,  without  fixed  principles,  and 
probably  a  debauchee.  Is  he  a  devout  observer  of 
all  religious  duties,  —  he  is  pronounced  a  canting 
hypocrite  ;  if  in  some  of  his  theological  opinions  he 
does  not  keep  in  the  groove  exactly  marked  out  by 
his  censor's  creed  and  catechism,  he  is  a  heretic 
and  concealed  deist.  If  John  comes  neither  eating 
nor  drinking,  they  say  he  has  a  devil ;  if  Jesus  comes 
eating  and  drinking,  then  the  cry  is,  "  Lo,  a  glutton, 
a  wine-bibber,  and  a  companion  of  sinners."  So  dif- 
ficult, not  to  say  impossible,  is  it  for  even  the  most 
innocent  not  to  fall  under  tho  lash  of  men  whose  un- 


SERMONS.  131 

charitableness  is  always  awake  and  on  the  watch. 
These  are  they  who  will  never  suffer  any  man's  com- 
mendation to  pass  by  them  without  ripping  up  some- 
thing or  other  to  his  disadvantage  ;  or  at  least  misin- 
terpreting the  motives  of  those  of  his  good  actions 
the  goodness  of  which  they  cannot  impugn.  If  you 
ever  hear  them  begin  to  praise  any  themselves,  pre- 
pare to  hear  at  the  close  some  ill-natured  exception, — 
a  disparaging  "  hut,''  that  overthrows  all  the  eulogy 
that  went  before.  Justly  are  their  tongues  com- 
pared by  the  Psalmist  to  a  sharp  razor,  which,  when 
most  smooth  and  oily,  cuts  the  keener,  and  gives  the 
deeper  wound. 

There  is  another  description  of  persons  who  vio- 
late the  precept  in  our  text,  namely,  those  who,  from 
an  overweening  conceit  of  their  own  wisdom  are  ex- 
tremely forward  to  give  advice  to  all  they  meet,  and 
will  needs  understand  more  of  a  man's  business  than 
himself.  Uninvited  they  obtrude  themselves  on  his 
attention,  undertaking  to  prescribe  as  if  they  were 
his  physicians,  to  arbitrate  as  if  they  were  his  judges. 
That  we  are  all,  in  a  certain  sense  and  with  proper 
limitations,  our  brother's  keeper  is  a  certain  truth. 
Even  Cain  could  not  assert  the  contrary  but  in  the 
way  of  an  interrogation.  That  we  are  to  do  every- 
thing in  our  power  to  secure  his  well-being  is  part  of 
that  great  social  law  which  binds  man  to  man.  But 
this  is  entirely  different  from  that  pragmatical  spirit 
we  are  speaking  of.  We  have  no  right  to  consider 
our  wisdom  so  divinely  superior  to  the  wisdom  of 
others  that  we  are  entitled  to  interfere  on  every  occa- 
sion with  their  plans  and  purposes.     The  true  name 

16 


182  SERMONS, 

of  this  temper  is  miserable  vanity,  not  brotherly  kind- 
ness and  affection.  Much  less  may  we  break  down 
the  rules  of  courtesy  established  by  society  in  order 
to  tell  our  neighbor  what  we  think  of  him.  Too  often 
has  the  violation  of  this  canon  of  conduct  by  ig* 
norant  zeal  occasioned  evils  which  the  utmost  pru- 
dence could  not  repair. 

We  have  thus  enumerated  four  classes  of  persons 
who  transgress  the  precept  given  in  our  text ;  and, 
going  back  upon  our  steps,  we  shall  offer  a  few  con- 
siderations, to  each  respectively,  which,  if  well  ap- 
plied, may  serve  as  a  remedy  to  the  pestilent  humor 
we  are  exposing. 

In  the  first  place,  as  to  those  whom  we  pronounced 
the  most  excusable,  namely,  your  vain  and  trifling 
spirits,  who,  as  an  offset  to  their  want  of  wisdom,  put 
in  the  plea  of  freedom  from  bad  intention,  they  must 
have  a  care  lest  they  imagine  themselves  entirely 
innocent.  They  are  not  innocent ;  for  they  degrade 
the  dignity  of  their  natures,  and  prostitute  the  noble 
powers  of  reason  and  imagination  to  the  most  igno- 
ble uses.  Consider,  my  good-humored,  story-telling 
friend,  that  you  were  made  for  something  better  than 
to  fetch  and  carry  for  the  vain  curiosity  of  fools.  You 
say  you  mean  no  harm.  Well,  you  don't.  But  how 
do  you  know  that  those,  who  drink  in  your  endless 
prattle  with  such  evident  pleasure,  are  equally  harm- 
less in  their  purposes,  and  equally  indisposed  to  make 
them  serve  a  base  end  ?  A  shrewd  bad  man  does  not 
need  for  certain  purposes  a  better  instrument  than 
a  loquacious  fool.  Remember,  also,  that,  light  and 
trifling  as  you  may  think  your  conduct,  yet  in  those 
most  exact  scales  in  which  God  weighs  all  the  actions 


SERMONS.  183 

and  words  of  men,  even  lightness  and  vanity  shall  be 
found  ponderous.  Reflect,  also,  on  the  solemn  decla- 
ration of  the  wise  man :  "In  the  multitude  of  words 
there  wanteth  not  sin ; "  and  the  declaration  of  the 
great  Master  himself:  "  I  say  unto  you  that  every  idle 
word  that  men  shall  speak  they  shall  give  account 
thereof  in  the  day  of  judgment." 

As  to  what  concerns  the  second  class,  namely,  the 
malicious  whisperers  and  sowers  of  strife,  it  is  quite 
superfluous  to  show  the  greatness  of  their  criminality, 
since  they  are  universally  condemned  by  the  voice  of 
God  and  man.  Such  is  its  loathsome  nature,  that  an 
express  law  concerning  it  was  incorporated  in  the  Le- 
vi tical  code,  and  the  violation  of  which  stands  in  im- 
mediate connection  with  the  crime  of  murder  :  "  Thou 
shalt  not  go  up  and  down  as  a  talebearer  among  thy 
people,  neither  shalt  thou  stand  against  the  blood  of 
thy  neighbor ; "  and  the  apostle  ranks  whisperers  and 
sowers  of  strife  in  the  black  list  of  those  whom  God 
gives  over  to  a  "reprobate  mind,  to  do  the  things 
which  are  not  convenient,"  and  which  those  who  do, 
are  worthy  of  death.  Well  wou.ld  it  be  for  these 
assassins  and  incendiaries  of  society,  if  they  gave  such 
warnings  the  consideration  they  merit,  —  if  they 
asked  themselves  what  reception  they  expect  from  the 
God  of  peace  and  order,  who,  all  their  lives,  as  far  as 
their  bitter  tongues  could  influence,  have  been  pro- 
moting confusion,  variance,  and  every  evil  work  ? 

We  pass  on  to  the  next;  tliose  who,  though  not 
intentionally,  or  deliberately  malignant,  are  open  to 
the  general  charge  of  being  uncharitable,  censorious, 
fond  of  intermeddling  with  their  neighbor  for  no  other 


184  SERMONS. 

purpose  but  to  spy  out  his  faults  and  "  pronounce  " 
harsh  decisions  on  his  conduct.  To  these  sir  oracles 
I  put  the  question,  by  what  right  they  seat  themselves 
on  the  throne  of  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  and  issue 
forth  maledictions  before  the  time  ?  Who  are  ye  that 
judge  another  man's  servant  ?  Let  him  alone.  To 
his  own  master  he  stands  or  falls.  Why  judge  ye 
your  brother,  for  ye  shall  all  stand  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  Christ.  This  is  a  reflection  that  cannot 
sink  too  deeply.  Pronouncing,  without  a  call  of  ne- 
cessity, judgment  upon  others,  is  entering  on  a  busi- 
ness which  does  not  belong  to  us.  Ah  !  is  it  not  enough 
that  the  sinner,  if  impenitent,  will  receive  a  condem- 
ning sentence  from  Him  whose  right  it  is  to  pass  it  ? 
Shall  tve,  exposed  to  the  same  scrutiny,  anticipate  the 
dreadful  doom  that  may  fall  equally  on  us  both  ? 

This  suggests  the  question  whether  these  mdignant 
accusers  are  sure  of  their  own  spotless  innocence. 
Are  their  hands  so  clean,  that  they  dare  to  rigidly 
arbitrate  over  a  single  child  of  Adam?  Whatman, 
acquainted  with  his  own  character,  will  dare  to  set 
up  a  tribunal  over  the  worst  of  his  race  ;  or,  if  he  dare, 
what  manner  of  person  ought  he  to  be  in  all  godli- 
ness and  honesty  ?  Let  it  be  considered,  moreover, 
that  when  our  critics  are  j)ersuading  themselves  that 
they  have  found  holes  and  blemishes  in  their  neigh- 
bor's garment  of  righteousness,  they  may  be  entire 
strangers  to  the  merits  of  the  case.  It  is  seldom  that 
a  carper  can  reach  the  truth  in  any  instance,  and 
is  therefore  qualified  to  judge.  Lideed,  he  seldom 
wants  to  know  it.  Having  set  his  heart  on  a  snarl, 
he  marks  only  a  few  outward  appearances,  and  rushes 


SERMONS.  185 

to  the  desired  conclusion  at  once  ;  not  reflecting  that 
possibly,  on  a  more  thorough  examination,  appear- 
ances would  be  found  altogether  deceptive.  How 
many  are  the  errors  of  conduct  which,  by  an  ill- 
tempered,  self-constituted  inquisitor,  are  viewed  and 
spoken  of  with  the  sternest  disapprobation ;  yet  turn 
out,  when  well  sifted,  to  be  mere  venial  offences,  pro- 
ceeding from  education,  the  force  of  circumstances, 
ignorance,  or  bodily  infirmity.  You  call,  for  instance, 
that  young  man  who  has  just  passed  you  in  the  street 
a  thoughtless,  giddy  worldling,  destitute  of  all  relig- 
ious principle,  and  most  undoubtedly  in  the  broad 
way  that  leads  to  destruction.  You  are  sure  of  all 
this,  because  you  have  it  from  good  authority  that 
when  he  visits  the  great  city  he  occasionally  goes  to  a 
theatre  and  sometimes  patronizes  a  dance.  Now  you 
are  perfectly  welcome,  if  it  seems  good,  to  query 
whether  his  standard  of  piety  is  quite  so  high  as 
could  be  wished.  But  you  must  go  not  a  jot  farther. 
It  is  not  for  you  and  me  to  make  saints  and  devils 
at  our  pleasure.  That  young  man  may  have  had  an 
imperfect  religious  training.  He  may,  during  the 
important  period  when  habits  are  permanently  formed, 
have  been  far  removed  from  examples  of  rigid  non- 
conformity to  the  world.  He  may  never  have  heard 
one  expression  of  disapprobation  breathed  on  the 
subject  of  these  indulgences  by  any  whom  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  respecting.  In  short,  a  thousand  circum- 
stances of  defence  might  be  alleged,  with  which  you, 
his  officious  judge,  are  not  acquainted.  Thus  stands 
the  case,  then,  between  you  and  him.  You  have  so 
far  been  a  meddler  in  the  concerns  of  your  neighbor, 

16* 


186         '  SERMONS, 

as  to  become  his  accuser ;  whereas,  had  you  carried 
your  investigations  a  little  further,  and  proved  a  more 
thorough-going  busy-body,  you  would  have  been  in- 
clined to  the  mildest  and  most  generous  construction. 

Next,  you  meet  a  man  singularly  unprepossessing 
in  his  appearance.  You  mark  something  sinister 
in  his  eye  and  whole  expression,  which  reminds 
you  of  a  felon  whom  you  a  long  time  ago  saw 
upon  a  gallows.  You  tell  your  companion  that  you 
would  not  meet  that  fellow  on  a  dark  night  in  the 
public  road  for  a  large  estate.  Such  is  the  casket. 
Open  it  and  you  find  a  jewel  there  of  which  Christ  has 
few  more  bright  in  his  earthly  crown.  He  is  in  con- 
stant communion  with  holy  thoughts  and  heavenly 
aspirations.  His  heart  beats  warmly  to  God  and  man  ; 
and,  if  not  distinguished  by  deeds  of  charity,  it  is  be- 
cause the  poor  soul  stands  himself  in  need  of  them. 
So,  judge,  it  seems  that  you  are  again  mistaken. 

Yonder  is  a  female  whom,  from  some  striking 
peculiarity  of  dress,  you  take  to  be  a  daughter  of 
vanity, —  lost  to  all  sentiments  but  those  of  pride  and 
self-admiration ;  absorbed  in  the  frivolous  gayeties 
and  pleasures  of  the  world.  It  is  impossible  for  you 
to  think  well  of  her  in  such  a  garb.  Now  it  is 
not  contended  that  you  have  no  right,  as  a  question 
of  taste,  to  discuss  people's  dress,  or  criticise  their 
hats  and  ear-rings  ;  though  you  might  better  leave 
them  to  the  judgment  of  the  milliner  and  goldsmith. 
But  ive  do  insist,  that,  before  taking  the  trouble  of 
uttering  one  damnatory  sentence  on  the  wearer,  in 
point  of  religion,  morals,  or  even  good  sense,  you  re- 
view all  the  circumstances  that  might  be   pleaded 


SERMONS.  187 

ill  her  defence  by  an  intelligent  advocate.  What  if 
it  were  made  to  appear,  that,  from  her  earliest  years, 
she  has  been  habituated  to  the  mode  of  dressing  and 
degree  of  ornamentation  which  yon  disapprove  ;  that 
the  difference  between  it  and  your  wife's  is  not 
so  great  as  the  difference  between  your  means ;  that, 
so  far  from  indulging  the  pride  and  intoxication  you 
impute  to  her,  she  really  feels  less  than  many,  of 
whom  you  judge  favorably,  —  your  ow7i  daughter,  for 
instance.  In  fine,  what  if  it  could  be  made  to  ap- 
pear, that,  at  the  very  time  you  were  condemning  her 
in  your  soul  as  a  gaudy,  gilded  fool,  she,  all  uncon- 
scious, was  trembling  under  the  thought  of  being  a 
naked,  helpless  sinner  before  God ;  and  that  from  a 
heart  bursting  with  agony  was  rising  up  to  heaven 
the  silent  prayer,  " Lord,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner"  ? 
Oh,  you  say,  if  all  this  could  be  fairly  made  out,  I 
would  retract.  But  how  do  you  know  that  it  could 
not  be  made  out  ?  Plainly  you  own  yourself  a  stranger 
to  the  matter  under  adjudication ;  and  how  dare  you 
offer  conjectures  founded  on  equivocal  appearances 
as  decisions  on  character  and  destiny  ?  Let  me  affec- 
tionately exhort  you,  in  the  pithy  language  of  the 
text,  "  to  study  to  be  quiet  and  do  your  own  busi- 
ness," leaving  your  neighbor  in  the  hands  of  Him 
who  searches  the  heart,  and  judges  righteously. 

With  regard  to  those,  in  the  fourth  place,  who,  on 
all  occasions,  are  so  free  with  their  advice  and 
counsel,  I  ask  them  to  reflect  what  an  insupportable 
pride  and  arrogance  it  is,  to  reckon  themselves  wiser 
than  anybody  else,  and  to  think  no  man  capable 
of  rowing  his  own  boat  unless  tJie^  are  sitting  at  the 


188  SERMONS. 

helm.  For,  however  they  pretend  that  their  offi- 
cioiisness  proceeds  from  good  nature  and  benevolence, 
we  will  find,  on  examination,  tliat  tlie  true  motive 
is  that  we  have  assigned.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  con- 
struction put  upon  it  by  the  general  voice  of  man- 
kind. It  would  also  be  seasonable  to  put  to  them- 
selves the  same  question  which  the  pestered  old 
man,  in  an  ancient  poem  by  Terence,  puts  to  an  over- 
kind  neighbor  who  would  force  his  opinion  on  him. 
"  Have  you  so  much  leisure  from  your  own  affairs, 
that  you  must  be  quite  idle  unless  you  take  care 
of  mine  ? "  Let  them  attend  further  to  this  con- 
sideration. Either  their  kind  counsel  will  be  fol- 
lowed, or  it  will  not.  If  not,  —  which  is  most  likely, 
what  thanks  have  they  ?  They  have  only  the  morti- 
fication to  find  themselves  treated  according  to  their 
probable  deserts,  —  as  idle  interlopers,  whose  opinion 
is  as  weak  as  it  is  presumptuous ;  and  this,  as  I  have 
said,  is  the  common  result.  But  grant  it  adopted. 
Then,  he  is  fairly  responsible  for  the  consequences. 
Now,  it  is  morally  impossible  that  he  who  is  always 
busy,  and  projecting  for  himself  or  for  others,  should 
invariably  succeed.  If  it  be  his  own  business  that 
miscarries,  he  can  forgive  himself,  and  is  entitled 
to  our  sympathy  ;  but  if,  without  a  call,  and  without 
occasion,  he  has  been  pressing  his  counsel  on  a  friend, 
and  thereby  brought  him  into  a  tight  place,  is  it  not 
perfectly  reasonable  tliat  he  bear  not  only  all  the 
blame,  but  all  the  damage,  too  ? 

I  allow  that  this  argument  is  inapplicable  to  that 
sort  of  ofiiciousness  which  relates  to  religion;  there 
no  disappointment  nor  damage  can  follow  from  ad- 


SERMONS.  189 

hering  to  good  advice.  But  there  are  evils  of  another 
kind  which  deserve  to  be  well  thought  of  by  those 
good  men  who  affect  a  general  care  of  souls.  It  can- 
not be  denied,  for  instance,  that  when  one  takes  upon 
himself  gratuitously  the  office  of  an  exhorter,  he 
holds  forth  something  like  an  exhibition  of  his  own 
superior  wisdom  and  piety.  He  may  not  be  aware 
that  such  an  impression  is  produced ;  but  so  it 
actually  is,  however  far  from  his  intention.  Con- 
nected with  this  is  the  suspicion  that  in  his  friendly 
admonitions  there  is  involved  a  direct  comparison 
between  himself  and  the  person  whom  he  desires 
to  benefit.  Now,  there  are  few  who  can  meekly  bear 
a  comparison  entirely  to  their  disadvantage ;  much 
less  when  made  by  the  party  on  whose  side  the  ad- 
vantage lies.  If  not  disposed  to  rise  up  indignant 
against  his  claims,  they  at  least  think  it  intolerable  in 
him  to  advance  them  in  their  very  teeth^  and  thus, 
in  the  outset,  a  principle  of  resistance  is  called  up 
which  effectually  bars  the  intended  good.  Nor  can  it 
be  concealed  that  the  adviser,  unless  eminent  by 
weight  of  character,  exposes  himself  to  disagreeable 
suspicions  as  to  the  purity  of  his  motives.  Why, 
reasons  the  other  party,  have  we  been  selected  from 
the  whole  host  of  mankind  to  be  the  objects  of  his 
benevolent  regard?  What  has  put  him  in  such  a 
tremble  for  our  particular  souls ;  when  there  are 
so  many  souls  all  around,  in  whom,  it  might  be  sup- 
posed, unless  he  had  by-ends  to  answer,  he  would 
take  a  deeper  interest  ? 

I  would  recommend,  therefore,  to  those  who,  in  their 
pious  zeal,  are  bent  on  the  enterprise  of  reforming 


190  SEJIMONS. 

one  or  more  of  the  immortal  beings  in  their  vicinage, 
to  weigh  well  the  ground  on  which  they  stand,  and 
remember  the  old  proverb,  "  Look  before  you  leap." 
Knowing  the  rooted  prejudice  against  meddlers  and 
busy-bodies,  in  the  minds  of  most,  let  them  wait  for 
such  a  turn  of  events  as  will  prevent  their  exposiire  to 
this  imputation,  and  then  they  may  proceed  with  all 
the  vigor  and  fidelity  the  case  demands.  On  the 
other  hand,  let  them  remember  that  precipitance  will 
not  only  prove  ruinous  to  their  project,  but,  perhaps, 
draw  down  upon  them  no  little  mortification  and  dis- 
grace. The  study  and  knowledge  of  human  nature 
must  never  be  neglected  by  one  who  seeks  to  do 
human  nature  good.  In  short,  there  are  evils,  and 
even  wickedness  in  our  neighbor  which  should  be 
endured  in  silence,  for  the  excellent  reason  that  inter- 
ference will  only  make  the  matter  worse.  Above  all, 
this  is  true  when  interference  takes  the  form  of  de- 
nunciation. Few  evil  spirits  have  ever  been  cast  out 
by  scolding,  even  though  conjoined  with  prayer. 

We  shall  bring  our  remarks  to  a  close  by  summing 
up  the  whole  matter  in  a  single  thought,  with  which, 
indeed,  we  have  endeavored  to  make  you  already 
familiar.  It  is,  that  we  have  business  enough,  and 
more  than  enough,  to  occupy  us,  without  seeking  em- 
ployment abroad.  Doubtless,  this  holds  true  in  the 
lowest  sense,  — r  in  reference  to  the  mere  concerns  ot 
the  i3resent  life.  But  what  are  these  when  compared 
with  preparation  to  meet  a  holy  God,  and  the  retribu- 
tion of  eternity  ?  Here  is  a  work  which  will  try  all 
our  business  activities,  if  we  set  about  it  in  the  right 
spirit.     There  are  difficulties  to  be  surmounted,  evil 


SERMONS.  191 

passions  to  be  subdued,  virtues  to  be  acquired,  tempta- 
tion to  be  overcome,  which  leave  no  room  for  a  mo- 
ment's leisure  to  trespass  on  other  men's  fields  of 
labor.  In  the  name  of  the  Lord,  then,  let  us  be  up  and 
doing,  — for  ourselves.  There  is  no  time  to  interfere 
with  our  fellow-servants,  for  our  own  work  is  not 
done,  nor  will  be  till  we  are  summoned  to  the  reward. 
Happy  man  is  he  who,  persuaded  of  this,  endeavors  to 
prove  himself  faithful  by  the  assiduous  discharge  of 
his  duties,  and  constant  watchfulness  over  his  heart, 
from  which  are  the  issues  of  life.  He  pursues  the 
even  tenor  of  his  way  in  peace  and  quietness.  Tak- 
ing no  part  in  the  din  and  turmoil  of  the  world  be- 
yond the  circle  of  social  responsibilities,  he  makes 
steady  advance  in  preparation  for  the  solemnities  of 
the  judgment,  and  at  last  has  the  blessedness  of  find- 
ing his  work  done,  and  done  well,  because  the  doing 
it  engrossed  the  undivided  energies  of  his  soul.  Do 
you  aspire  after  this  blessedness  ?  Then  listen  to  the 
exhortation  of  the  apostle :  "  Study  to  be  quiet,  and 
do  your  own  business,"  making  "  your  calling  and 
election  sure." 


The  Principal  Thing. 


IX. 

THE  PRINCIPAL   THING, 


Proverbs  4:7.     Misbflm   \%   \\%  jjrhtnpal  il^ing. 


HE  attentive  reader  of  lioly  Scripture  does  not 
need  being  told  that  the  leading  word  of  our 
text  is  used  to  denote  not  wisdom  in  general,, 
but  the  special  branch  of  it  which  stands  re- 
lated to  oiir  duties  as  creatures  of  God  and  expectants 
of  future  happiness.  As  to  its  nature,  more  particu- 
larly, the  whole  idea  is  expressed  by  that  word  with 
which  we  are  so  familiar,  in  tlieory,at  least,  if  not  in 
practice,  —  "  re%zW," — religion  in  its  widest  com- 
pass, including  profound  reverence  for  the  Almighty 
Being  who  created  us ;  a  cordial  belief  in  the  revela- 
tion given  of  his  will,  genuine  repentance  for  sin, 
and  universal  self-dedication  to  the  great  purposes  in 
view  of  which  we  have  been  placed  in  the  world.  It 
is,  in  short,  the  soul's  outspoken  consciousness  of  her 
higher  nature  and  upward  movement,  on  the  wings 
of  faith  and  love,  to  her  immortal  home.  Various 
names  are  given  it  in  Scripture,  as  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,  a  new  heart,  the  incorriiptible  seed,  the  wisdom 
that  Cometh  from  above.  Its  transforming  influence 
extends  like  a  potent  medicine  to  all  the  powers  of  the 
soul.     In  the  understanding,  it  is  a~ change  in  our  per- 


196  SJ^JRiMONS. 

ceptions,  opinions,  and  reasonings  concerning  spiritual 
objects  ;  in  the  conscience,  it  is  a  lively,  tender  sensi- 
tiveness regarding  moral  obligation ;  in  the  judg- 
ment, it  is  an  approbation  of  the  things  which  are 
most  excellent ;  in  the  will,  it  is  an  entire  concurrence 
with  the  divine,  —  the  result  of  all  of  which  is  pro- 
gressive holiness  in  temper  and  conduct.  Our  text 
speaks  of  it  as  one  thing,  because,  whatever  may  be 
its  particular  modification,  it  is  always  "  one  "  sacred 
principle  of  divine  life.  As  the  body  has  many  mem- 
bers, and  yet  is  but  one  body  ;  as  a  tree  has  many 
branches,  and  yet,  with  all  its  magnificence  of  fruit 
and  foliage,  is  but  one  tree  ;  as  mankind  consists  of 
various  races,  and  yet  there  is  but  one  human  nature, 
—  so  religion  is  a  blessed  unity,  a  universal  soul- 
vitality,  evincing  itself  variously,  and  in  unequal 
degrees,  but  never  out  of  harmony  with  itself. 

I  proceed  now  4;o  show  that  this  one  thing  is  the 
principal  thing.  It  is  not  a  convenience,  adding 
simply  to  our  comfort,  with  which  we  can  dispense, 
or  for  the  want  of  which  we  can  compensate  by  in- 
genious substitutes  ;  it  is  not  a  mere  sentimental 
luxury,  like  the  gratification  of  our  taste  for  literature, 
or  the  beauties  and  sublimities  of  nature,  or  the 
products  of  ingenious  art.  Religion  is  more  than  all 
this.  It  is  a  necessity,  compared  with  which  all  other 
necessities  shrink  into  utter  insignificance  !  And  the 
fact  can  be  made  clearly  to  appear,  by  comparing  it 
with  the  various  other  objects  to  which  worldly  men 
are  inclined  to  give  the  preference.  What  are  they  ? 
That  which  occurs  most  readily  to  thought  is  an 
ample  abundance  of  the  wherewithal  to  answer  the 


SEEMONS.  197 

importunate  and  ever-pressing  question :  "  What  shall 
I  eat  ?  "  etc. ;  in  other  words,  a  prosperous,  worldly 
condition,  a  well-secured  income,  that  will  not  only 
keep  the  wolf  from  the  door,  but  place  at  command 
all  the  innocent  luxuries  and  refinements  of  civilized 
life.  It  would  be  extreme  affectation  to  say  that  these 
things  are  unimportant,  and  do  not  enter  into  a  wise 
man's  estimate  of  happiness.  A  care  to  provide 
comfortable  support  for  ourselves  and  dependents  is 
not  only  allowable  and  wise,  but  sternly  obligatory 
on  the  conscience.  Indeed,  so  far  is  religion  from 
countenancing  sloth,  and  a  wilful  neglect  of  the 
means  for  improving,  within  reasonable  limits,  our 
earthly  condition,  that  it  rules  a  man  of  this  char- 
acter out  of  the  church,  pronouncing,  "  that  he  has 
denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel." 

But  surely  the  value  of  these  objects  of  pursuit 
is  only  relative  and  comparative.  They  take  their 
denomination  of  "  necessari/,^^  merely  from  their  ref- 
erence to  the  present  earthly  existence ;  are  not  in- 
dispensable to  the  divine  principle  within  us  that 
aspires  after  celestial  pleasures.  We  may  be  strait- 
ened in  outward  circumstances,  —  houseless,  friend- 
less, at  a  loss  for  daily  food,  —  yet  possess  the  true 
riches  ;  our  bodies  clothed  in  rags,  and  yet  our  spirits 
(the  true  man  within  us)  arrayed  in  heavenly  attire. 
The  poor  earthly  tabernacle  in  which  we  sojourn  for 
a  night,  rather  than  can  be  said  to  dwell  in,  may  be 
broken  up  and  perish  for  want  of  common  sustenance, 
and  yet  the  immortal  inhabitant  be  fed  with  living 
bread,  —  have  meat  to  eat  that  passers-by  know  not  of, 
and  well  might  envy.    Or,  is  a  highly  cultivated  intel- 

17* 


198  SEEiMONS. 

lect  cnricliecl  with  all  tlie  treasures  of  ancient  and 
modern  science,  the  principal  thing  ?  That  it  ranks 
liigli  among  human  distinctions  cannot  be  doubted. 
An  acquaintance  with  human  nature,  and  G-od^s 
nature,  —  in  the  midst  of  which  we  are  placed  to  sur- 
vey it,  and  adore  the  glorious  Author,  —  a  knowledge 
of  the  history  of  the  world  and  the  dependencies  of 
things  around  us,  are  admirable  accomplishments, 
hi  vesting  the  possessor  with  a  grace  and  dignity  that 
raise  him  far  above  the  level  of  those  not  so  favored. 
Nor  is  the  benefit  derived  from  them  inconsiderable. 
They  minister  in  every  way  to  our  comfort  and  happi- 
ness. Nothing  more  true  than  the  adage,  of  which  the 
epoch  in  which  we  live  furnishes  so  many  wonderful 
illustrations,  knowledge  is  j^ower. 

But,  notwithstanding,  mental  accomplishment  is 
not  the  principal  thing.  We  see  it  confirmed  by 
every  hour's  observation  of  what  passes  around  us, 
that  a  man  may  be  wholly  rude  and  uncultivated,  and 
yet  be  both  a  good,  and  a  happy  man,  a  useful 
member  of  society,  and  a  joyful  expectant  of  future 
blessedness.  Nay,  it  is  possible,  and  not  veri/  rarely 
happens,  that  men  of  extraordinary  abilities  and 
attainments  are  destitute,  not  only  of  the  grace  of 
God,  but  common  integrity  and  an  average  share 
of  happiness.  These  things  can  never  give  either 
peace  or  purity  to  the  conscience ;  they  can  never 
hush  the  cry  of  the  soul  after  something  better. 
Many  a  sage  philosopher,  whom  science  ranks  among 
her  demigods,  may  look  with  envy  on  the  poor  old 
domestic,  who  makes  his  broth,  and  whose  learning 
does  not  extend  a  hair  beyond.     He  can  measure  the 


SEEMONS.  199 

size  and  distance  of  the  planets ;  explain  all  the 
wonders  of  chemistry  and  magnetism ;  pursue  a 
mathematical  prohlem  to  heights  never  before  trod 
by  human  genius,  and  with  all  this,  ignorant  of  the 
true  end  of  life,  he  may,  in  God's  estimation,  be  a  very 
fool.  The  old  woman,  scarcely  able  to  spell  her  way 
through  the  first  chapter  of  John,  may  have  unlocked 
there  treasures  of  wisdom  which  our  Solomon  never 
dreamed  of,  and  which  elevate  her  so  far  above  him 
that  they  can  hardly  be  deemed  to  partake  in  a 
common  nature. 

Another  blessing,  which  ranges  high  among  the 
desirables,  is  a  robust  physique,  a  frame  all  compact, 
of  sinew,  bone,  and  muscle,  with  well-strung  nerves, 
—  a  vigorous  circulation  of  rich  oxygenated  blood,  a 
good  digestion  that  says  to  disease,  "  Aha !  "  when 
it  Cometh,  and  leaps  up  from  its  occasional  prostra- 
tion like  a  giant  refreshed  with  wine.  Well,  earth, 
mere  earth,  has  nothing  that  should  be  more  earnestly 
coveted.  "  Without  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body," 
as  the  ancient  philosophers  expressed  it,  a  bound- 
less command  of  the  means  of  sublunary  enjoyment 
could  not  impart  even  the  mockery  of  happiness. 
Cast  the  greatest  monarch  in  the  world  on  his  bed, 
under  a  lingering,  painful  complaint,  from  which 
there  is  little  prospect  of  recovery,  and  ask  his 
meanest  scullion  whether  he  would  exchange  situa- 
tions with  him.  "  Exchange  with  such  a  wretch !  " 
would  be  the  reply.  "  i,  with  my  warm  blood  dancing 
merrily  through  every  artery  and  vein,  feeling  an 
elastic  spring  in  every  joint,  eating  the  dryest  crust 
with  appetite  and  relish,  sleeping   my  nine   hours. 


200  SERMONS. 

every  night,  without  so  much  as  once  turning  over 
on  the  other  side  !  No  ;  a  thousand  kingdoms  would 
not  tempt  me  to  parley  a  moment  with  the  thought." 
Beyond  a  doubt,  health  is  a  blessing  of  priceless 
value.  Of  all  the  cases  of  self-murder  I  have  read 
of,  the  most  excusable  (if  the  epithet  may  ever  be 
applied  to  a  crime  so  unnatural)  is  that  of  an 
unhappy  man,  who,  suffering  from  a  malignant  cancer 
which  the  physician  pronounced  incurable,  immedi- 
ately retired  to  a  chamber  and  blew  out  his  brains. 
Yet,  even  health  is  not  the  principal  thing.  A  man 
may  enjoy  it  to  the  end  of  his  finger-nails  without 
being  happy.  There  are  even  those  to  whom  it  is  an 
unmitigated  curse,  in  consequence  of  its  abuse.  The 
talent  was  employed  in  gratifying  the  lowest  sensual 
propensities.  Their  strength  was  given  up  to  indul- 
gences which  put  out  the  eyes  of  their  understanding, 
corrupted  all  that  was  pure  in  their  affections,  and 
seared  the  conscience  as  with  a  red-hot  iron  ;  so  that 
at  the  close  of  their  career,  they  were  ready  to  ex- 
claim, "  Oh,  that  I  had  never  enjoyed  a  day  of  health 
in  my  life.  Continued  sickness  would  have  saved  me 
from  the  most  dreadful  of  calamities  to  which  I  am 
now  a  hopeless  victim." 

Observation,  also,  teaches  that  true  piety  is  an  ef- 
fectual substitute  for  bodily  health  when  it  is  wanting. 
Some  of  us  have  seen  persons  afflicted  with  such 
terrible  forms  of  disease  that  we  wondered  how  it 
was  that  they  did  not,  like  Job,  curse  the  day  on 
which  they  were  born ;  yet,  enabled  by  divine  grace 
to  bear  up  under  their  sufferings  with  the  sweetest 
patience  and  heavenly  serenity.     They  were  blessed 


SERMONS.  201 

with  seraphic  visions,  —  talked  with  angels,  and  held 
ravishing  communion  with  their  Saviour  at  the  very 
time  every  fibre  was  racked  with  agony.  Some  time 
since,  a  poor  man  died  near  Boston,  whom  the  news- 
papers described  as  having  laid  thirty  years  on  his 
back,  in  a  state  of  helplessness  and  torment  almost 
incredible.  During  the  whole  period  he  was  unable 
to  raise  a  hand.  He  could  not  move  himself  on  his 
bed,  nor  masticate  his  food,  —  a  thin  liquid,  sucked  in 
by  his  lips,  being  all  that  supported  nature.  Every 
day  lie  was  seized  with  spasms  which  convulsed  his 
whole  frame  so  fearfully  that  the  spectacle  could  not 
be  endured,  and  visitors  were  obliged  to  leave  the 
room.  Yet,  in  the  midst  of  all,  he  was  continually 
praising  God  for  his  unspeakable  mercy  ;  —  declaring 
to  those  around,  how  happy  he  was  in  the  opportunity 
of  glorifying  the  grace  of  that  Saviour  who  had 
plucked  him,  a  poor  worthless  brand,  from  the 
burning.  He  died  in  the  triumph  of  Christian  faith, 
and  went  joyfully  up  to  the  blessed  land  where  the 
inhabitant  shall  no  more  say  "  I  am  sick." 

Character,  or  the  good  esteem  of  mankind,  is 
another  of  earth's  pleasant  plants.  A  generous  mind 
feels  a  noble  satisfaction  in  being  highly  appreciated, 
especially  by  the  wise  and  good.  But  how  often  is 
the  passion  carried  far  beyond  its  due  limitation.  To 
be  exalted  above  the  common  level,  —  to  be  deemed 
great,  talented,  honorable,  —  to  have  one's  name 
in  every  mouth,  and,  perhaps,  trumpeted  in  every 
newspaper,  —  many  account  the  topmost  bough  in  the 
tree  of  human  felicity.  Alas,  how  sad  the  deception ! 
What  vain   shadows   and   froth-bubbles   are  all  the 


202  SEEMONS. 

honors  of  this  transitory  scene,  when  estimated  at 
what  they  are  truly  worth.  A  good  name  may  be 
better,  as  the  wise  man  tells  us,  than  precious  oint- 
ment ;  but  he  never  tells  us  that  it  is  the  "  principal 
thing."  One  may  possess  it,  and  yet  be  eminently 
unhappy.  On  the  other  hand,  though  it  be  enviously 
withheld,  he  may  enjoy  the  most  placid  composure 
and  peace  within.  We  know  who  has  left,  as  a  legacy 
to  his  followers,  this  remarkable  beatitude  :  "  Blessed 
are  ye  when  all  men  speak  evil  of  you." 

We  note,  finally,  the  pleasures  of  love  and  friend- 
ship. We  are  made  for  society,  and  could  not  live 
without  its  solace.  The  happiness  of  heaven  con- 
sists in  its  perfection.  Friendship  is  a  firm  barrier 
against  many  evils,  by  providing  us  with  counsel  and 
reproof,  assistance  and  sympathy.  He  who  has  a 
judicious  and  faithful  adviser,  though  he  ranks  with 
the  meanest  of  mankind,  is  happier  than  the  throned 
monarch,  who,  surrounded  with  obsequious  courtiers 
(not  friends),  shines  in  all  the  pomp  and  splendor  of 
lonely  greatness.  What  is  true  of  friendship  in  its 
restricted  sense  applies  to  all  the  kindly  affections 
that  bind  man  to  man,  —  the  love  of  parents  and 
children,  husband  and  wife  ;  love  of  country,  and  the 
godlike  principle  of  general  benevolence  that  takes 
in  all  intelligent  beings.  The  happiness  springing 
from  these  sweet  charities  of  life  is  pure  as  well 
as  exalted,  and  they  are  so  often  called  into  exercise 
by  the  routine  of  daily  duty  that  they  may  be  said 
to  form  the  main  staple  of  human  enjoyment.  Hence, 
many  are  to  be  found,  especially  among  the  gentler 
and  more  finely  attuned  spirits,  who  build  an  altar  to 


SERMONS.  203 

the  household  deity  exclusively,  seeking  happiness 
nowhere  but  in  the  bosom  of  domestic  privacy,  with 
the  occasional  society  of  a  few  friends  united  by  con- 
genial tastes  and  opinions.  Perhaps,  of  all  plans  to 
while  away  life  without  the  aid  of  religion,  this  is  the 
most  plausible.  But  it  will  7iot  do.  Love  and  friend- 
ship are  admirable  gifts  of  Providence,  but  they  are 
not  "  the  principal  thing."  The  objects  of  our  regard, 
however  dear,  may  deceive  us ;  if  not  deceive,  sadly 
disappoint,  and  from  one  moment  to  another  we 
tremble  lest  they  be  violently  torn  from  our  embrace. 
There  are  a  thousand  external  ills  which  flesh  is 
heir  to,  where  affection  speaks  in  vain  ;  much  less 
can  it  heal  the  spirit  broken  by  a  sense  of  sin. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  have  been  those,  who,  de- 
prived of  all  endearing  connections,  have  yet  en- 
joyed divine  pleasures,  living  in  the  light  of  His 
countenance  whose  smile  can  irradiate  the  darkest 
dungeon. 

We  shall  extend  no  further  this  comparative 
view,  but  proceed  to  enforce  it  (perhaps  at  the  risk 
of  a  little  repetition),  by  pointing  out  how  truly 
imhappy  the  man,  who  prefers  the  world  to  religion, 
is  in  all  conditions,  particularly  these  three :  first, 
a  good  one,  or  what  he  deems  such ;  second,  a  bad 
one,  which  is  really  such ;  third,  his  condition  when 
he  must,  however  reluctantly,  meet  his  summons  to 
appear  before  the  Divine  tribunal. 

Suppose,  first,  all  his  schemes  succeed  according  to 
his  wishes.  He  rolls  in  wealth,  is  honored  with 
offices  of  power  and  trust,  has  numerous  friends  and 
dependents,  among  whom  he  disports   himself  like 


204  SEEAfOXS. 

IcYiatliaii  among  the  minnows.  His  ample  resources 
place  within  his  reach  all  the  gratifications  so  agreea- 
ble to  his  sensual  nature.  There  he  is,  flourishing 
like  a  green  bay  tree ;  and  now  will  you  say  that  this 
man  is  happy.  I  say,  no !  Being  unreconciled  to 
God  and  holiness,  his  blessings  become  snares  and 
pitfalls.  His  spreading  branches  only  make  him  a 
broader  target  to  the  poisoned  arrows  of  the  tempter. 
Turn  your  eye  from  all  this  glare,  and  look  into  his 
heart.  The  depraved  passions  of  human  nature  reign 
there  without  a  check,  —  somewhat  tamed  it  may  be 
by  circumstances  and  culture,  still  supreme.  His 
abundance  produces  no  content.  He  yields  to  his 
lusts,  and  yet  his  lusts  are  not  satisfied,  ever  crying 
with  the  horse-leech,  "  Give,  give."  Thus,  his  ac- 
quisitions make  him  really  poor,  because  they  in- 
crease his  desires.  His  pride,  ambition,  jealousy, 
covetousness,  malevolence  toward  those  who  stand  in 
his  way,  are  all  kept  in  a  state  of  constant  irritation. 
New  temptations  lead  him  captive  to  new  sins.  Se- 
rious thoughts,  if  he  ever  had  any,  fade  away  from 
the  mind  ;  above  all,  thoughts  of  God  and  obligation. 
As  the  religious  soul,  by  its  habitual  communing  with 
pure  and  exalted  ideas,  grows  itself  more  pure  ; 
his,  for  the  opposite  reason,  becomes  more  gross  and 
earthy.  He  would  like  to  carnalize  the  object  of 
worship,  to  frame  a  conception  of  him,  not  as  the 
high  and  holy  One  whom  no  man  hath  seen,  nor  can 
see,  but  as  a  huge,  robust  animal  with  a  moral 
nature  as  low  and  unspiritual  as  his  own,  —  like 
pagan  Jupiter.  Such  is  the  tendency,  the  nature,  and 
proper   working,   of  unsanctified   prosperity.      Few 


SERMONS.  205 

successfully  resist  its  influence,  or  avoid  drifting  on 
the  rocks  to  which  they  are  carried  by  its  fatal  tide. 

Let  us  now  reverse  the  scene,  and  look  at  our 
spoiled  child  of  fortune  when  lying  in  the  depths. 
He  is  stripped  of  his  blushing  honors,  reduced  to  pov- 
erty, languishing  under  the  pains  and  weaknesses 
of  declining  nature,  deserted  by  those  who  formerly 
made  the  loudest  professions  of  devoted  attachment. 
How,  in  these  circumstances,  can  he  sustain  himself? 
That  by  a  constitutional  stoicism  he  may  be  able,  in 
some  degree,  to  stifle  the  feelings  of  nature  may 
be  granted.  But  how  is  it  possible  he  should  enjoy 
a  real  inward  serenity  ?  Tliere  is  no  divine  bosom  to 
which  he  can  fly  where  he  may  quiet  his  sobs,  no 
Providence  to  confide  in,  no  divine  aids  to  strengthen, 
no  promise  of  better  blessings  to  speak  courage 
and  gladness.  Such  a  man,  in  the  midst  of  the  dark 
and  thick  tempest  around  him,  must  be  of  all  men 
most  miserable. 

Certainly,  then,  it  would  seem,  that  religion  is  the 
principal  thing^  —  principal  even  for  this  world,  chief 
in  prosperity,  yet  more  so  in  adversity ;  chief  in  the 
sunshine  and  the  dark  cloudy  day ;  chief  everywhere 
and  always.  The  man  of  business,  incessantly  en- 
gaged in  pursuits  which  occupy  his  thoughts  and 
give  him  sensible  pleasure,  may  be  able  to  evade, 
in  some  degree,  the  force  of  what  has  been  said,  — 
avowing  that  he  has  not,  in  point  of  fact,  expe- 
rienced that  absolute  indispensableness  of  piety  con- 
tended for  either  in  good  or  adverse  fortune.  There 
is  another  condition,  however,  on  which  he  has  not 
yet  experimented.     He  must  die.     There  is  no  es- 

18 


206  SERMONS. 

caping  from  that  inexorable  law  wliicli  ordains  that 
dust  must  return  to  dust,  and  the  spirit  to  the  God 
who  gave  it.  Yes,  he  must  die,  and  what  provision 
shall  he  make  for  his  passage  ?  There  are  many,  we 
are  aware,  Avho  never  ask  the  question ;  whose  innate 
stupidity  puts  them  beyond  the  reach  of  all  attempts 
to  awaken  reflection.  This,  however,  is  not  com- 
monly the  case  ;  and  where  there  is  a  capability  of 
looking  steadily  out  on  the  prospect  that  spreads  be- 
fore the  imagination,  especially  when  conscience  is 
thoroughly  roused,  how  pungent  must  be  the  agony. 
Some  of  us  can  speak  on  this  subject  from  observa- 
tion. Perhaps  we  have  stood  by  the  bed  of  a  de- 
parting man  of  the  world  whom  death  has  surprised 
in  the  midst  of  his  projects  and  pleasures.  His  image 
is  still  before  us,  and  his  sad  accents  are  tolling  in 
our  ears,  whenever  we  abstract  ourselves  from  the 
noisy  din  of  our  worldly  occupations.  ''  Every  earthly 
scene  is  passing  away  from  me.  The  bonds  of  nature 
are  just  dissolving ;  and  as  to  this  vain  mockery 
of  life  to  which  I  have  given  my  heart,  my  hopes,  my 
all,  I  am  already  dead,  —  as  dead,  to  all  intents,  as 
if  to-morrow  had  come,  and  I  were  lying  in  my 
coffin ;  and  what  have  I  to  expect  ?  To  see  the  dawn- 
ing of  a  heavenly  morning  ?  I  dare  not  hope 
for  it.  God's  mercies  I  have  abused.  I  have  slighted 
his  warning,  despised  his  grace,  affronted  the  blessed 
Saviour,  and  I  fear  I  am  undone."  How  sad  a  specta- 
cle is  this !  An  immortal  being  going  down  into 
darkness,  perishing  under  the  blaze  of  the  eternal 
gospel.  In  the  midst  of  his  strong  cryings  and  tears, 
the  curtain  drops ;  and  upon  the  naked,  helpless  soul 


SERMONS.  207 

eternity  }3onrs  all  its  tremendous  realities.  Ah,  that 
awful  word,  eternity!  We  are  swallowed  up  —  we 
are  lost  in  the  idea.  When  millions  of  ages  have 
rolled  by,  the  undying  spirit  will  be  but  commencing 
to  exist ;  and  if,  during  its  probation,  deliberately  un- 
faithful to  solemn  responsibilities,  but  commencing  to 
pay  the  forfeiture.  We  know  little  of  the  precise  man- 
ner in  which  the  law  of  retribution  will  be  enforced ; 
the  representations  of  Scripture  on  the  subject  being 
in  the  highest  degree  figurative.  But  surely  enough 
is  known  to  make  the  most  thoughtless  serious. 
Utterly  rejecting  the  dogma  of  physical  torture,  it 
is  impossible  to  doubt  that  there  will  be  such  ele- 
ments of  unhappiness  in  constant  activity  as  these : 
deprivation  of  all  the  enjoyments  appropriate  to  our 
animal,  and  more  especially  our  spiritual,  nature ; 
abandonment  to  ungratified  desires,  and  the  rage 
of  malevolent  passions ;  being  cast  out  from  the 
presence  of  God  in  the  character  of  a  friend,  yet 
having  him  always  before  the  eye  as  a  judge,  and, 
in  a  certain  sense,  though  we  do  not  like  the  ex- 
pression, as  an  enemy  ;  the  writhing  of  an  eternal  re- 
morse, with  the  cutting  reflection  that  nothing  in  this 
is  arbitrary,  —  all  is  merited,  and,  according  to  the 
laws  of  moral  order,  inevitable.  Let  no  one  say  that 
irreligious  happiness  can  have  any  other  ending  than 
misery.  The  game  may  seem  to  open  well ;  appear- 
ances in  its  further  progress  may  be  highly  flattering, 
and  the  pleased  fool  may  think  his  adversary  asleep. 
But  he  does  not  see  the  fatal  defeat  that  is  preparing 
for  him ;  how  certainly  he  shall  awake  from  his 
dream  to  the  discovery  that  he  has  lost  his  all.    "  The 


208  SERMONS, 

day  of  the  Lord  cometli  as  a  thief  in  the  night ;  for 
when  they  shall  say  peatje  and  safety,  then  sudden 
destruction  cometh  upon  them  as  travail  upon  a 
woman  with  child,  and  they  shall  not  escape." 

There  is  a  story  told  of  an  ancient  heathen  tyrant, 
which  contains  a  moral  suggestive  of  many  serious 
thoughts  on  this  subject.  Pie  had  become  remarka- 
ble, far  and  near,  for  the  good  fortune  that  at- 
tended all  his  enterprises,  which  puffed  him  up  with 
the  conceit  that  he  was  the  special  favorite  of  the 
gods.  One  day  he,  in  the  way  of  experiment, 
dropped  a  precious  signet-ring  in  the  sea,  at  a  great 
distance  from  the  land,  which,  sure  enough,  was 
brought  back  in  safety  on  the  following  morning, — 
having  been  taken  from  the  belly  of  a  fish  which  had 
swallowed  it,  when  in  the  act  of  sinking.  His 
triumph  was  unbounded ;  and,  by  his  order,  the 
strange  occurrence  was  reported  to  all  the  neighbor- 
ing sovereigns.  On  being  mformed  of  the  affair,  his 
best  ally,  the  king  of  Egypt,  —  a  wise  and  thought- 
ful prince,  —  instantly  renounced  all  mte7'course  with 
him,  saying  that  his  unparalleled  prosperity  could 
not  but  be  an  omen  of  some  fearful  catastrophe  in 
which  he  and  his  people  might  be  involved.  It  was, 
in  his  judgment,  a  thing  not  to  be  credited  that 
Providence  designed  such  felicity,  especially  in  the 
case  of  a  bad  man,  to  be  enduring.  The  prediction 
was  soon  verified.  Calamity  came  upon  him  so  tre- 
mendous and  overwhelming  that  men's  ears  have 
tingled  at  the  recital  for  the  last  two  thousand  years, 
and  his  name  is  one  of  the  beacons  of  history.  So 
shall  it  be  with  all  the  pride  and  pomp  of  those  who, 


SEIi3I0NS.  209 

in  their  exaltation,  give  not  God  the  glory.  They 
are  raised  up  to  heaven  that  their  fall  may  be  the 
greater  when  he  casts  them  down  to  hell. 

In  closing,  I  beg  you  to  weigh  what  has  been  said, 
with  care  and  solemn  deliberation.  Our  remarks 
have  been  neither  sparkling  nor  profound ;  but  they 
are  worthy  of  all  regard  for  the  subject's  sake.  You 
are,  every  one  of  you,  immortal  creatures,  soon  to 
account  with  the  great  Proprietor  for  the  talents, 
whether  one,  two,  or  ten,  which  he  has  committed  to 
you ;  some  of  your  number  are  undoubtedly  stran- 
gers to  that  good  part  without  which  you  are  equally 
unfit  to  live  and  die.  Be  wise  in  time,  and  make 
yourselves  acquainted  with  God,  before  he  cause 
darkness. 

A  word  to  the  young.  For  you,  also,  religion  is 
the  principal  thing.  We  have  no  interest  to  deceive 
you.  No  other  motive  can  actuate  us  in  urging  its 
claims  than  regard  to  your  true  welfare.  We  do 
want  yoii  to  live  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  We  want 
you  to  begin  now  ;  because,  we  believe,  he  calls  you 
to  it  now ;  because  he  has  given  precious  promises 
that  they  who  seek  him  early  shall  find  him,  and 
because  neither  you  nor  I  know  whether  an  ex- 
tended opportunity  will  be  afforded.  Come,  young 
friends,  get  up  to  the  work  of  searching  for  the 
divine  treasure.  Listen  to  the  voice  of  wisdom.  Com- 
pare the  decisions  of  Scripture  with  those  of  the 
oracle  within  you,  —  your  own  conscience^  —  and  see 
how  completely  they  accord.  Balance  the  interests  of 
this  world  with  the  interests  of  another  ;  retire  to 

18* 


210  SEEMONS. 

your  closets,  and  there,  on  bended  knee,  pray  God 
that  he  may  be  found.  So  we  would  most  heartily 
commend  you  to  his  boundless  mercy  in  Christ,  and 
the  mighty  influence  of  his  grace  and  Spirit. 


Vain    Thoughts. 


X. 

VAIN    THOUGHTS. 


Jer.  4:  14.     |job  loiig  sljull  tijg  tiahx  tbongbis  lotigc  tDilbhi;  Iba  ? 


N  these  words  the  prophet  compares  the  heart 
of  man  to  a  house  of  vulgar  entertainment, 
where  guests  of  every  description  congregate, 
except  the  respectable,  and  are  permitted  to 
revel  without  contradiction  or  control.  These  guests 
are  vain,  sinful  thoughts,  which,  like  so  many  drunk- 
en rowdies,  are  constantly  coming  in  and  going  out, 
making  it  an  eternal  scene  of  confusion  and  riot. 
The  indictment  is  a  true  one  so  long  as  the  heart  is 
unrenewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  We  know  it  will 
be  extremely  difficult  to  impress  this  conviction  on 
many  minds.  No  small  part  of  the  evil  charged  is 
the  soul's  loss  of  moral  sensibility,  so  that  it  cannot 
be  made  to  see  how  dim  and  blighted  a  thing  it  is, 
compared  with  itself  as  it  first  came  from  the  divine 
hand.  Yet  we  think  a  careful  attention  to  the 
workings  of  their  own  minds  will  convince  the  most 
sceptical  that  there  is  too  much  justice  in  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  text. 

Our  purpose  is  to  give  some  illustrations  of  this 
subject.  We  shall  not  declaim ;  and  we  shall  pass 
over  the  more  crimson    sins  of   thought,  confining 


214  SFEMONS. 

ourselves  to  what  the  text  calls  their  vanity ;  ad- 
ducing sucli  proofs  as  will  appeal  to  the  conscious- 
ness and  experience  of  all. 

Our  text  needs  little  explanation.  The  word 
"  vain  "  sometimes  means,  in  the  holy  Scriptures, 
unprofitable.  All  is  vain,  says  the  wise  man,  because 
"  there  is  no  profit  of  them  under  the  sun."  This 
is,  doubtless,  one  idea  of  the  text.  It  sometimes 
means  light ^  as  in  the  phrase  "  lighter  than  vanity." 
This,  also,  may  be  predicated,  for  the  most  part,  of 
our  thoughts.  They  are  destitute  of  all  pith  and 
solidity.  Like  Belshazzar's,  the  most  profound  and 
serious  are  weighed  and  found  wanting.  Occa- 
sionally it  means  frail^  inconstant.  This,  also,  ap- 
plies to  them.  They  pass  off  and  are  forgotten, 
like  froth-bubbles  on  the  running  stream.  Lastly, 
vain  is  used  for  sinful.  Thus,  the  wicked  are  called 
"  vain  sons  of  Belial.^^  Such,  too,  is  the  prevailing 
character  of  our  thoughts.  They  are  disobedient  to 
law,  deflections  from  that  most  perfect  rule  which 
has  respect  to  the  inner  man,  and  consequently  ex- 
pose to  the  divine  displeasure. 

These  things  premised,  we  enter  on  our  topic,  and 
observe,  — 

First,  that  the  vanity  of  the  mind  appears  in  a 
want  of  ability  to  extract  devotion  from  the  ordinary 
occurrences  of  life.  The  various  dispensations  of 
Providence  are  the  appointed  means  of  exciting 
within  us  pious  emotion  ;  and  the  truly  sanctified 
heart  improves  them  to  this  end.  Out  of  all  God's 
dealings,  all  the  objects  presented,  to  be  seen  or 
enjoyed,  it  distils  sweet   and   spiritual   meditations. 


SJERJIONS.  215 

So  it  was,  no  doubt,  with  our  first  parents  before 
apostasy  had  closed  npon  them  the  gates  of  Para- 
dise. Walking  among  the  loveliest  scenes,  the  eye 
feasted  with  beauty,  the  ear  enraptured  with  melody, 
—  so  far  from  surrendering  themselves  to  epicurean 
and  idle  enjoyment,  they  continually  ascended  from 
nature  up  to  nature's  God.  Whatever  they  saw 
and  felt  was  his  memento.  The  dew  that  glittered  on 
the  rose-bud,  the  leaves  that  adorned  the  trees, 
the  grass  that  carpeted  the  earth,  the  flowers  and 
the  singing  of  birds,  did  not  so  much  please  the  sense 
as  elevate  their  pure  souls  to  gratitude  and  praise. 
It  was  the  same  with  him  who  in  all  things  was  the 
pattern  for  our  imitation,  the  blessed  Jesus.  Every 
object  and  casual  occurrence  that  attracted  his  at- 
tention during  his  various  sojournings  started  some 
train  of  holy  thought.  Did  he  hear  of  the  murdered 
Galileans,  —  melting  with  pity  for  the  thoughtless 
sinners  who  were  before  him,  he  exclaims,  "  Except 
ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish."  Does  he  en- 
counter a  gathering  of  fishermen,  —  he  invites  them 
to  be  "fishers  of  men."  Does  he  see  a  well, — he 
speaks  of  the  water  of  everlasting  life.  Does  he  taste 
wine,  —  he  looks  forward  to  the  new  wine  of  his 
Father's  kingdom. 

And  this  is  the  characteristic  of  every  well-consti- 
tuted mind.  As  the  bee  sucks  honey  from  the  flow- 
ers, so  from  all  events  it  gathers  aliment  for  its 
spiritual  nutrition ;  changing,  by  a  happy  alchemy, 
the  coarsest  earth  into  gold.  —  "finding  sermons  in 
stones,  and  good  in  everything."  On  the  contrary, 
look  at  the  generality  of  men,  ourselves,  probably. 


216  SERMONS. 

included.  Is  it  not  very  plain  that  for  the  most  part 
we  look  no  further  than  a  beast  into  the  ways  and 
workhigs  of  Providence;  contenting  ourselves ,  with 
earthly  satisfactions,  without  extracting  from  them  one 
of  those  sacred  uses  for  which  they  were  certainly 
designed  ?  When,  for  instance,  injuries  and  insults  are 
offered  us,  instead  of  being  led  like  David,  in  the 
case  of  Shimei,  to  the  devout  ejaculation,  "  The 
Lord  may  requite  us  good,"  how  we  instantly  begin 
to  indulge  thoughts  of  retaliation !  When  judg- 
ments befall  men,  —  others,  not  ourselves,  —  instead 
of  being  led  to  serious  reflection  on  the  uncertainty 
of  earthly  things,  and  the  danger  of  placing  confi- 
dence in  an  arm  of  flesh,  like  Job's  friends  of  old, 
we  are  found  running  out  into  heartless  censures  on 
the  victim  of  calamity.  When  outward  blessings  are 
poured  upon  us,  instead  of  rejoicing  in  their  giver, 
we  immediately  enter  into  the  self-colloquy,  "  Soul, 
thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years ;  eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry ;  "  and  when  calamity  betakes 
us,  instead  of  joining  the  man  of  Uz,  in  that  most 
beautiful  of  all  sentiments,  "  The  Lord  gave,  and  the 
Lord  hath  taken  away ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the 
Lord,"  we  take  occasion  to  question  the  existence  of 
a  Providence,  or  impeach  its  justice.  Are  not  these 
things  strikingly  corroborative  of  the  truth  we 
are  impressing  ?  Surely  there  is  something  radically 
wrong  in  us,  when  we  are  so  unskilful  in  the  happy 
art  of  making  the  ordinary  occurrences  of  life  minis- 
ters of  devotion. 

Secondly.   The  evil  appears  in  a  form  still  worse,  in 
a  positive  unwillingness,  a  loathing  to  reflect  with  any 


SEE310NS.  217 

earnestness  on  serious  themes.  Like  idle  school-boys 
in  the  midst  of  their  diversions,  we  entertain  a  secret 
horror  at  the  thought  of  sitting  down  to  the  task 
befitting  our  immortal  natures,  of  communing,  for 
example,  with  our  own  spirits,  and  solemnly  review- 
ing our  actions,  as  probationers  for  eternity.  Do  you 
think  this  a  little  highly  colored  ?  Well,  then,  tr^. 
Go  shut  yourselves  up  in  a  place  of  retirement,  and 
endeavor  to  concentrate  your  thoughts  on  some  re- 
ligious subject.  Undertake  to  consider  the  solemn 
truth  you  have  read  or  heard  a  few  hours  before,  or 
to  muse  on  some  unexpected  providence  which  has 
lately  occurred  in  your  neighborhood,  with  the  view 
of  improving  it  to  your  spiritual  advantage ;  you 
will  find  what,  had  the  trial  been  made,  would  have 
been  found  long  before,  that  your  vain  heart  does  not 
"  like  to  retain  God  in  its  knowledge ; "  that  it  is  only 
by  the  lash  that  it  is  induced  to  look  him  in  the  face. 
But,  granting  that  the  lash  is  applied,  and  that 
good  thoughts  are  actually  entertained,  it  is  certain 
that  the  mind  will  not  be  lon^  intent  on  them.  On 
evil  our  meditations  can  dwell  with  surprising  fixed- 
ness. Thus,  "  to  devise  froward  things  Solomon  tells 
us  a  man  shuts  his  eyes ;  "  that  is,  he  bends  to  it  the 
most  wrapt  attention.  But  not  so  in  the  other  di- 
rection. Here,  what  unsteadiness,  what  interruption  ! 
We  are  like  the  aforesaid  school-boys  called  in  from 
their  diversions,  and  with  their  eyes  screwed  down 
on  their  task,  while  a  thousand  images  dance  through 
the  mind  in  complicated  confusion,  like  the  dissolving 
scenes  of  a  phantasmagoria.  Take  what  precautions 
we  may,  our  tlioughts,  like  idle  servants  sent  on  an 

19 


218  SER3I0NS. 

important  errand,  are  eternally  excursioning  to  the 
right  and  left,  occasionally  coming  back,  only  to  start 
after  some  new  vanity.  Take  a  specimen  in  the  house 
of  God.  Let  us  suppose  that  we  have  come  here  with 
a  full  purpose  to  honor  divine  institutions.  The  first 
stanza  of  the  opening  psalm  solemnly  impresses  us, 
and,  for  a  moment  or  two,  we  can  say  with  David, 
"  My  heart  is  fixed,  my  heart  is  fixed  ;  Lord,  I  will 
sing."  But  alas  !  before  the  completion  of  another, 
our  truant  spirits,  like  the  fool's  eyes,  have  gone  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth.  The  like  in  prayer.  You  en- 
deavor, according  to  the  Master's  orders,  to  watch 
unto  prayer  ;  to  set,  as  it  were,  a  watch  at  the  door, 
that  no  disturbing  thought  may  enter.  Scarcely, 
however,  are  you  fairly  before  the  mercy-seat,  when 
the  harpies  of  idle  imagination  are  polluting  and  de- 
vouring the  sacrifice. 

Closely  connected  with  this  is  another  fact,  that, 
even  when  the  mind  succeeds  in  thinking  good  things, 
with  some  considerable  fixedness  too,  yet  it  does  so 
in  a  disorderly  way,  with  no  regard  to  sequence  and 
connection.  What  the  wise  man  says  of  words  is 
true  of  thoughts,  —  "  Fitly  disposed,  they  are  apples 
of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver."  This  was  exemplified 
in  our  first  parents,  before  their  fall  from  integrity, 
and  always  in  the  great  High  Priest  of  our  profes- 
sion. In  them,  not  one  of  their  thoughts  was  out  of 
place.  Like  the  stars  of  heaven,  they  were  not  only 
beautiful  in  themselves,  but  in  their  mutual  har- 
mony,—  each  marching  on  in  regular  procession  and 
in  its  own  orbit.  Not  only  were  they  intrinsically 
excellent,  but,  like  good  ^soldiers,  none  ever  stepped 


SERMONS.  219 

out  of  rank.  How  different  with  us,  and  our  hearts  ! 
View  them  in  the  duty  adverted  to  a  moment  since, 
that  of  prayer.  It  is  evident,  that,  in  order  to  per- 
form the  service  acceptably,  not  only  all  secular  ideas 
should  be  absent,  but  even  that  none  of  a  devotional 
character  find  entrance,  except  those  of  a  prayerful 
description  ;  such,  I  mean,  as  become  a  sinner  on  his 
bended  knees.  But  scarce  is  the  good  man  risen  with 
the  multitude  to  pray,  than  some  pious  anecdote  is 
remembered,  or  some  impressive  sermon  heard  on  a 
former  occasion.  Wliile  hearing  the  Word,  instead 
of  bending  attention  to  the  weighty  truths  7iow  pre- 
sented, he  thinks  of  the  solemn  prayer  that  went 
before,  or,  from  something  that  is  said,  takes  occasion 
to  cut  loose  from  the  messenger  of  God  altogether, 
and  think  out,  as  it  were,  a  sermon  of  his  own. 

This  evil,  however,  is  more  general,  and  has  a 
wider  range  than  that  assigned  to  it  in  the  preceding 
remarks.  In  other  things,  beside  religion,  the  same 
disorderliness  and  love  of  eccentric  movement  are 
exhibited.  The  rapid  transition  from  one  object  of 
thought  to  another,  without  regard  to  logical  connec- 
tions, is  not,  in  itself,  positively  sinful.  But  it  is  to 
be  regulated  by  the  fear  of  God  and  an  enlightened 
conscience.  A  traveller  is  not  always  bound  to  keep 
the  exact  middle  of  the  highway,  but  is  a  fool  if  he 
turns  aside  into  every  bog  in  pursuit  of  jack-o'-lan- 
terns. The  mind,  however,  scorns  these  proper  limi- 
tations, and  glories  in  being  a  vagabond  through 
God's  creation.  It  passes  from  one  thing  to  another, 
not  because  allied  to  each  other,  but  apparently  in 
the  mere  wantonness  of  power.     Scarcely  is  it  here. 


220  SERMONS. 

when  lifting  np  oiir  eyes  we  see  it  gambolling  among 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  We  can  compare  it  to 
nothing  so  well  as  to  a  man  bowling  along  in  an  ex- 
press rail-car,  at  the  rate  of  forty  miles  an  hour, 
house  after  house,  landscape  after  landscape  rising 
up  to  view,  and  instantly  retiring,  as  if  they  had  not 
been  seen.  Now,  we  are  criticising  our  neighbor's 
faults  ;  anon  climbing  an  Egyptian  pyramid  ;  at  this 
moment  picturing  a  scene  of  sensual  enjoyment ;  in 
that  which  follows,  thinking  of  the  next  election, 
hatching  a  scheme  of  profit,  or  conjecturing  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Emperor  of  China.  It  is  character- 
istic of  maniacs,  that,  though  they  undoubtedly  ex- 
ercise reason,  there  is  no  connection  between  their 
thoughts, —  all  is  incoherence  and  confusion,  like  the 
scrawl  of  a  mischievous  child.  We  who  go  at  large 
have  this  advantage,  that  it  is  in  our  power  to  do 
three  things  which  they  cannot,  —  disguise  our  men- 
tal operations,  dispose  in  a  proper  order  our  expres- 
sions, and,  above  all,  control  our  voluntary  actions. 
But  could  these  operations  be  seen  precisely  as  they 
are,  as  much  nonsense  would  be  found  in  them, 
sheer  and  perfect  nonsense,  as  in  the  wildest  ravings 
of  the  maniac. 

A  fault  opposed  to  this  is  the  mind's  too  great 
intensity  w\\Q\\  under  the  influence  of  passion,  —  illus- 
trating the  old  adage,  that  extremes  often  meet.  For 
example,  when  we  encounter  a  disappointment,  how  we 
brood  over  every  circumstance  that  occasioned  it,  and 
linger  round  the  evil,  though  its  consequences  are  ir- 
retrievable. The  very  uselessness  of  our  reflections 
seems   to   give   them  a   fascinating   power  over  us. 


SEBMONS.  221 

When  calamity  is  threatening,  though  yet  at  a  dis- 
tance, to  what  gloomy  musings  does  it  give  rise.  How 
the  heart  meditates  on  terror  1  The  little  cloud,  no 
bigger  than  a  man's  hand,  we  magnify,  by  exaggerat- 
ing fancy,  into  the  precursor  of  a  second  Noah's  del- 
uge ;  and  the  affliction  of  to-morrow  we  contrive  to 
double  by  making  it  the  affliction  of  to-day.  The  like 
with  ungratified  desire.  How  intensely  do  we  long 
for  the  completion  of  our  wishes  !  Scarcely  is  our 
pillow  visited  with  sound  sleep  till  we  enter  on  the 
hoped-for  enjoyment ;  so  that  often  when  it  actually 
arrives,  it  has  lost  its  charm,  and  we  suffer  the  pains 
and  disgusts  of  satiety  before  possession. 

The  vanity  of  the  mind,  in  the  next  place,  evinces 
itself  and  its  workings  by  an  idle  and  unprofitable 
curiosity  ;  a  morbid  hankering  after  the  knowledge 
of  matters  in  which  we  have  no  interest  or  concern. 
What,  indeed,  is  the  most  of  what  the  world  formerly 
called  learning,  but  a  plausible  form  of  this  moral 
disease  ?  What  are  the  most  of  those  profound  meta- 
physical and  transcendental  speculations,  which  are 
still  so  much  admired  in  certain  circles,  but  "  oppo- 
sitions of  science,  falsely  so  called,"  ingeniously  ab- 
surd conjectures  about  things  beyond  the  compre- 
hension of  the  human  intellect  ?  Admirably  well  are 
these  cobwebs  of  the  brain  described  by  the  apostle 
Paul,  as  "  old  wives'  fables,"  invented  to  satisfy  the 
cravings  of  children  after  something  wonderful,  and 
in  fact  unknown. 

The  same  prurient  curiosity  is  exemplified  in  the 
course  of  reading  which  many  pursue,  especially  our 
youth.     I  do  not  pass  an  ixnqualified  CQudemnation 

X9* 


222  SFiiiVONS. 

on  all  our  books  of  fiction.  A  good  selection  of 
them,  used  in  moderation,  may  be  read  with  advan- 
tage to  the  understanding  and  the  heart.  But  there 
is  a  large  number,  and  those,  unfortunately,  the 
most  popular  with  a  numerous  class  of  readers,  which 
are  little  better  than  spiced  carrion^  abounding  in 
pernicious  maxims,  false  views  of  life,  and  pruri- 
ent descriptions  thinly  hidden  under  mawkish  senti- 
mentalities,—  unredeemed  by  the  least  exhibition  of 
fancy,  wit,  or  knowledge  of  human  nature.  Even 
the  dehcate  female  sometimes  contracts  a  taste  for 
such  offals,  and  may  be  foimd  poring  at  the  midnight 
hour  over  pages  she  would  not  venture  to  read 
under  the  eye  of  a  parent  or  a  Christian  friend. 
Such  is  the  power  over  her  of  that  horse-leech, 
depraved  mriosity^  crying,  "  give,  give,"  that  the 
silly  young  creature  denies  herself  natural  rest  in 
the  employment  of  corrupting  her  imagination,  in- 
flaming her  passions,  and  destroying  her  native  pu- 
rity of  sentiment. 

The  same  curiosity  is  displayed  by  many  in  their 
desire  to  know  the  secrets  of  those  around  them. 
How  anxious  are  they  to  get  the  full  measure  of 
their  neighbor's  faults,  to  become  acquainted  with 
their  pecuniary  circumstances,  and  the  least  of  their 
family  arrangements  !  If  some  vague  rumor  to  their 
disparagement  be  in  the  wind,  how  eagerly  do  they 
snuff  it  up,  and  eagerly  impart  it  to  brother  and 
sister  gossips,  —  agonizing  in  all  the  pains  of  parturi- 
tion till  the  deliverance  be  accomplished  !  "  Bid  you 
ever  hear  thatf^'  What  magic  in  these  five  little 
words,  intoned  with  the  emphasis  befitting  the  sub- 


SEEMONS.  223 

ject  and  the  occasion  !  How  do  they  make  the  heart 
of  the  auditor  palpitate,  rouse  the  sleeping  blood, 
and  spread  over  her  cheek  the  flush  of  delighted  at- 
tention !     How  many  bursts  of  eloquence But 

the  subject  is  too  solemn  for  irony.  How  many 
reputations  have  they  murdered,  and  hearts  have 
they  broken  !  Into  how  many  fountains  of  domes- 
tic happiness  have  they  poured  the  venom  of  hell ! 

Another  exemplification  of  our  subject,  —  the  van- 
ity of  the  thoughts,  —  is  concocting  schemes  for 
satisfying  unlawful,  at  least  exorbitant,  desires, — 
"  taking  thought,"  as  the  apostle  expresses  it,  "to  ful- 
fil the  lusts  of  the  flesh."  Would  men  be  rich, — 
wonderful  are  the  pains  they  take  to  study  out  all 
the  arts  and  tricks  of  the  world  for  this  purpose ; 
often  not  scrupling,  in  their  calculations,  oppression 
and  fraud.  Indeed,  it  is  this  kind  of  mental  ap- 
plication which  gives  the  only  evidence  to  us  that 
some  people  have  a  soul.  The  speaker  knew  a  man 
in  his  youth  who,  as  was  universally  believed,  on  the 
strongest  evidence  (that  of  his  wife  and  his  physician), 
to  have  died  of  brain  fever  caused  by  a  month's  pre- 
vious sleeplessness  and  nervous  prostration.  These 
had  their  origin  in  a  fearful  expenditure  of  intel- 
lectual energy  on  the  question,  how  he  could  extort 
an  additional  bonus  of  three  hundred  dollars  for  a 
farm  he  had  sold,  but  had  not  yet  signed  all  the 
papers.  The  mental  strain  was  too  great  for  his  frail 
tabernacle,  and  the  brain  succumbed  !  Would  men 
rise  to  political  distinction,  —  how  carefully  do  they 
provide  the  ladder  and  count  the  steps !  This  man 
shall  receive  a  consideration ;  that  man's  character 


224  SEEMONe, 

shall  be  spotted ;  this  opponent  will  probably  fall  by 
his  own  weight ;  that  one  shall  be  removed  by  man- 
agement. Thus  is  that  superb  intellect,  designed  by 
the  Creator  to  hold  communion  with  himself  and  all 
that  is  great  and  glorious  in  his  universe,  made  an 
ignoble  pimp  to  the  lusts  of  its  possessor  ! 

Once  more  ;  the  vanity  of  the  mind  shows  itself  in 
performing  on  the  theatre  of  imagination  those  freaks 
and  follies,  not  to  say  gross  sins,  which,  from  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  cannot  be  performed  actu- 
ally. It  often  happens,  that,  our  desires  wanting 
opportunity  for  real  gratification,  fancy  takes  pencil 
in  hand,  and  gives  a  sort  of  dramatic  picture  of  it. 
We  all  go  to  the  theatre,  and  have  free  tickets,  for  we 
are  both  the  authors  and  actors,  and  the  play  is  car- 
ried on  in  our  own  house.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
poor  man.  His  delight  is  to  imagine  himself  rich, 
and  then  to  scheme  plans  of  pleasure,  erect  castles  in 
the  air,  the  admiration  of  a  thousand  imaginary  be- 
holders. The  rich  man  dreams,  in  his  turn,  of  a  chair 
of  state.  The  young  man  relieves  the  tedium  of 
standing  all  day  behind  the  counter  by  the  dream  that 
he  is  a  soldier,  trampling  on  the  bodies  of  hundreds 
whom  he  has  slain  by  the  prowess  of  his  single  arm ; 
honored  with  the  baton  of  field-marshal  and  the 
hand  of  some  illustrious  princess.  We  give  those 
merely  as  cases.  They  may  not  be  yours.  But  there 
is  not  an  individual  in  this  assembly,  except  those 
saved  from  it  by  a  natural  stolidity,  who  has  not 
his  day-dreams  and  planted  some  fool's  paradise  to 
walk  in. 

A  vanity  connected  with  this  is  the  fondness  for 


SERMONS.  225 

thinking  over  our  many  excellences  and  endowments, 
—  counting,  studying,  admiring  them.  How  much  of 
that  priceless  riches,  time^  is  spent  just  in  saying,  to 
one's  self  of  course^  How  rich  I  am,  how  fine,  how 
respectable  !  How  many  little  Nebuchadnezzars  are 
there  in  our  cities  who  do  nothing,  and  think  of 
nothing  but  walking  through  the  streets,  hfting  up 
their  eyes  to  each  of  the  big  houses  they  have  ac- 
quired, and  saying,  "  Is  not  this  the  Babylon  that  I 
have  built?" 

This  vanity  appears  in  the  many  fond  expectations 
entertained  concerning  the  future.  Thus  with  the 
class  of  men  spoken  of  by  Isaiah,  —  "  To-morrow  shall 
be  as  this  day  and  yet  more  abundant ;  "  and  those 
described  by  James,  —  "To-morrow  we  shall  go  to 
such  a  city,  and  buy  and  sell,  and  get  gain."  So 
with  many  in  our  day :  no  sooner  do  they  open 
their  eyes  to  behold  the  sun,  than  they  commence 
their  plans  ; — not  plans  of  duty,  but  pleasure:  To- 
day, I  will  close  a  bargain,  and  foreclose  a  mortgage ; 
to-morrow,  I  will  give  a  dinner ;  on  the  day  after,  I 
will  take  advice  concerning  laying  out  my  new  coun- 
try-seat. And  thus  they  endeavor  to  obtain  a  pres- 
ent happiness  from  the  anticipation  of  future  en- 
joyment, like  thoughtless  heirs  before  the  legacy  is 
due.  In  this  way  the  generality  of  men  pass  their 
lives.  Vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish 
hearts  being  darkened,  they  take  no  note  of  the 
shortness  of  time.  They  do  not  look  at  the  unut- 
terably solemn  realities  which  are  perliaps  waiting 
for  them  at  the  corner  of  the  next  street.  Suddenly, 
in  the  midst  of  the  farce,  —  for  what  else  can  such 


226  sjlEMOns. 

a  life  be  called,  —  tliey  are  cut  down,  and  —  whci-e 
are  they?  oh!  where? 

From  the  subject  discussed  we  draw  two  reflec- 
tions, which,  duly  weighed,  will  convince  serious 
hearers  that  we  have  not  been  putting  them  off  with 
a  satire  instead  of  a  sermon. 

First.  We  here  see  an  argument  from  fact^  for 
the  scriptural  doctrine  of  a  great  primitive  apostasy, 
which  has  shattered  both  our  intellectual  and  moral 
nature.  This  is  the  moral  of  the  whole  story :  We 
inherit  a  fallen  nature.  How,  in  any  other  way,  ac- 
count for  that  bondage  to  the  most  miserable  vanity 
which  enthralls  the  noblest  of  human  minds  ?  The 
infidel  may  prattle  until  he  almost  believes  it,  con- 
cerning the  perfectibility  of  the  race  ;  the  astrono- 
mer may  descend  from  his  observatory,  and  expa- 
tiate on  the  sublime  greatness  of  the  human  intel- 
lect, because,  with  the  help  of  good  glasses,  he  has 
seen  a  star  that  was  never  seen  before  ;  the  chemist, 
from  his  laboratory,  may  talk  in  the  same  strain,  be- 
cause, by  a  fortunate  analysis,  he  has  discovered  a 
new  elementary  substance,  or  the  composition  of  one 
previously  considered  simple.  After  all,  fact,  un- 
deniable fact,  proves  that  men  are  but  children  of 
a  larger  growth  ;  and,  that,  whatever  they  once  were, 
or  by  supernatural  interposition  may  again  be,  there 
is  little  in  their  present  status  to  titillate  self-compla- 
cency. For  our  own  part,  when  we  read  one  of  those 
amazing  books  which  men  of  genius  have  produced, 
where  not  a  word  or  thought  is  misplaced,  and  every 
sentence  a  gem  of  intellect  or  fancy,  —  no  falling  off, 
no  occasional  incongruities  marring  the  general  effect. 


SEEMONS.  227 

—  ill  short,  a  perfect  model  of  excellence,  we  exclaim  : 
"  What  a  mind  !  Surely,  it  belongs  to  a  higher 
sphere  !  A  god  has  come  down  in  the  likeness  of 
men  !  "  But  the  reverential  feeling  is  sadly  abated, 
when  we  reflect  what  this  book  would  be,  if  it  were 
a  faithful  mirror  of  the  great  man's  thoughts  as  they 
actually  passed  through  him.  Now  it  is  not  our  pur- 
pose to  exaggerate  the  matter.  We  readily  grant 
that  this  vanity  is  a  mild  type  of  what  is  called  de- 
pravity or  corruption.  But  it  evinces  at  least  a  loss 
of  balance  among  the  powers  of  the  soul ;  a  prepon- 
derance of  the  low  and  trifling  over  the  serious  and 
dignified ;  an  infirmity  of  will,  disabling  it  from  ex- 
ercising a  proper  control  over  our  mental  operations, 
which  could  not  exist  in  a  being  unscathed  by  apos- 
tasy. There  must,  therefore,  have  been  a  shock  at 
some  early  period  which  has  paralyzed  our  moral 
nature.  Like  a  noble  temple,  lying  under  the  ban  of 
some  unexpiated  crime,  it  is  given  up  to  sordid  uses, 
and  has  become  a  habitation  for  thieves  and  va- 
grants ;  for  all  sorts  of  creeping  things,  and  unclean 
birds.  But,  thanks  to  the  Father  of  mercy,  the  in- 
terdict is  not  eternal.  It  shall  be  rebuilt  a  glorious 
edifice,  and  made  illustrious  by  the  returning  pres- 
ence of  the  august  Being  by  whom  it  was  erected, 
who,  reentering  his  long-forsaken  shrine,  will  say, 
"  This  is  my  rest  forever  ;  here  will  I  dwell." 

And  this  leads  me  to  the  topic  of  my  second  infer- 
ence, the  proof  suggested  by  our  subject  of  a  future 
immortality.  It  may  seem  a  strange  logic  to  build  so 
dignified  and  animating  a  truth  on  the  cheerless  and 
mortifying   details  we   have   been    spreading   before 


228  SERMONS. 

you.  To  some  they  may  appear  actually  subversive  of 
our  hopes,  the  thought  naturally  occurring  that  so 
childish  and  trifling  a  creature  has  no  claim  on  an 
enduring  existence.  But  the' argument  is  good,  not- 
withstanding. Look  at  it  fairly.  Undoubtedly,  man 
is  the  being  whom  we  have  represented.  He  is  a 
compound  of  vices  and  puerilities  which  are  calcu- 
lated to  excite,  not  only  astonishment,  but  painful 
contempt.  Nor  can  any  be  excepted  from  the  charge. 
The  best  man  who  treads  the  earth  is,  to  his  dying 
day,  the  wretched  slave,  not,  indeed,  of  the  grosser 
forms  of  criminality,  but  of  a  low,  grovelling  nature, 
the  consciousness  of  which  fills  him  with  an  oppres- 
sive sense  of  littleness,  a  painful  suspicion  that  with 
all  his  nobler  feelings  and  aspirations,  he  is  a  vulgar 
creature^  unworthy  of  any  special  favors  beyond  a 
short  earthly  pilgrimage.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  cannot,  in  his  better  moods,  persuade  himself,  that 
the  aspirations  spoken  of  mean  notliing.  He  cannot 
resist  the  belief  that  he  possesses  what  the  old  Roman 
philosopher  called  quiddam  divijium,  —  a  certain  di- 
vine nobility,  that  fits  him  for,  as  well  as  entitles  him 
to  expect,  a  protracted  existence.  How  shall  we  har- 
monize this  seeming  contradiction,  —  this  blending  in 
the  same  subject  of  light  and  darkness,  the  im- 
mensely great  and  almost  in  finite simally  small,  —  the 
angel  and  ape.  The  only  fair  solution  is,  that  we 
are  in  a  state  of  imperfect  development.  The  human 
soul  is  advancing  to  a  higher  plane,  and  death  is  the 
golden  gateway  througli  which  she  must  pass.  It 
seems  a  necessity,  in  the  government  of  the  all-wise 
and  benevolent  Creator,  that  a  period  should  arrive 


SERIIONS.  229 

when  her  good  shall  unfold  into  a  purer,  greater  good ; 
and  what  is  absurd  and  evil  pass  away,  like  the  of- 
fensive crudity  of  a  young  fruit,  when,  by  expansion 
and  growth,  it  has  attained  its  luscious  ripeness. 
Let  us  accept  with  joy  and  thankfulness  the  exposi- 
tion of  the  apostle,  given  with  all  that  lyric  grandeur 
which  characterized  this  first  of  human  writers,  when 
under  the  spell  of  some  commanding  thought :  "  The 
earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  waiteth  for  the 
manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God :  for  the  creature 
was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by 
reason  of  him  who  hath  subjected  the  same  in  hope : 
for  the  creature  itself  shall  be  delivered  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of 
the  sons  of  God." 

Let  me,  in  conclusion,  seriously  exhort  you  to 
make  conscience  of  yoiir  thoughts.  There  are  those 
who  would  persuade  us,  though  we  doubt  whether 
they  have  succeeded  in  persuading  themselves,  that 
the  Creator  of  all  worlds  will  never  stoop  so  far  as  to 
notice,  either  for  good  or  evil,  the  working  of  men's 
minds.  As  well  may  they  say  that  he  is  too  exalted 
to  notice  this  muddy  little  planet  at  all.  We  are 
better  instructed.  We  know  that  he  stoops  to  objects 
of  the  smallest  dimensions,  and  which  might  escape 
the  notice  of  an  imperfect  being.  He  who  spreads  out 
the  heavens,  binds  the  sweet  influences  of  Pleiades, 
and  can  loose  the  bands  of  Orion,  who  brings  forth 
Mazzaroth  in  his  season,  and  guides  Arcturus  with  his 
sons,  fixes  with  like  precision  the  atom  in  the  sun- 
beam, counts  the  drops  of  the  ocean,  and  the  grains 
of  sand  on  its  shore.     And  will  he  scorn  to  exercise 

20 


230  SERMONS. 

jurisdiction  over  his  finest  workmanship  ?  0  man, 
man !  that  soul  of  thine  is  worth  more  than  all  the 
worlds  in  the  universe :  it  is  a  wonder !  We  have 
called  it  God's  workmanship,  but  untruly:  it  is 
God^s  breathy  —  an  emanation  from  the  Fountain  of 
all  light,  purity,  and  blessedness  ;  more  beautiful  in 
his  eyes,  an  object  of  greater  interest,  because  he  sees 
in  it  more  of  himself,  than  sun,  moon,  stars,  and 
all  the  galaxy  of  heaven.  It  is  his  image,  his  living 
reflection,  so  resembling  him  that  the  Eternal  Son,  in 
whom  all  the  Father  shines,  freely,  joyfully,  with- 
out consciousness  of  any  degradation,  became  its 
near  kinsman,  and  died  for  it.  And  is  its  soiled 
purity  such  a  trifle  in  the  divine  estimation  ?  Do  not 
think  it.  The  day  is  approaching  when  of  all  the 
vain  counsels  of  the  heart  you  will  be  required  to 
give  an  account.  In  entertaining  them,  you  are 
cherishing  serpents  in  your  bosom,  which  will  requite 
you  with  deadly  wounds  ! 

In  order  to  repel  their  invasions,  be  impressed  with 
a  serious  apprehension  of  the  omnipresence  of  the 
Lord.  Ever  remember  that  his  all-seeing  eye  is 
upon  you,  and  be  warned  by  it  to  unceasing  vigilance 
and  circumspection. 

Watch  against  every  occasion  of  vain  thoughts ; 
all  amusements,  employments,  company,  pictures, 
books,  that  have  a  tendency  to  suggest  them. 

Set  a  watch  over  your  senses.  Make  a  solemn  cov- 
enant with  your  eyes  and  ears ;  for,  usually,  they  are 
the  avenues  through  which  the  unclean  thing  obtains 
entrance. 

Finally,  commit  your  ways  to  the  Lord,  and  your 
thoughts  shall  be  established. 


Halting  in  Religion. 


XI. 

HALTING   IN  RELIGION. 


1  Kings  18  :  21.     Dofu  lang  Ijalt  jrc  ktbccit  tfoa  ojjuuons 


HESE  words  are  part  of  the  address  of  the 
Prophet  Elijah  to  his  idolatrous  countrymen 
immediately  before  the  experiment  which  is- 
!  sued  so  fatally  to  the  priests  of  Baal.  The 
Israelites  had  for  many  ages  been  favored  with  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  and  living  Jehovah,  while  the 
nations  around  them  were  plunged  in  the  most  de- 
basing idolatry.  God  had  recorded  his  name  in  the 
midst  of  them,  and  both  by  works  and  word  had 
given  most  illustrious  exhibitions  of  his  character. 
Strange,  however,  as  it  may  seem  to  those  who  deny 
the  native  corruption,  and  proneness  to  evil  of  the 
human  heart,  they,  in  a  very  early  stage  of  their 
history,  deserted  his  service  and  joined  with  the  mis- 
erable Pagans,  whom  they  had  been  taught  to  pity  in 
bowing  before  the  shrine  of  demons.  Yet  we  are 
not  to  suppose  that  in  these  cases  the  true  God  was 
entirely  discarded.  Few  ventured  as  far  as  this. 
The  great  body  of  the  people  continued  to  honor  him 
with  a  partial  recognition,  and  allotted  him  a  certain 
'proportion  of  religious  worship.  In  this  arrangement 
there  was   nothing   at  variance  with   the  system  of 

20* 


234  SERMONS. 

Paganism.  Being  based  on  the  idea  of  innumerable 
gods,  equal  and  independent,  it  could  have  no  objec- 
tion that  its  votary  be  sometimes  found  at  the  altar 
of  Baal,  sometimes  at  the  temple  of  the  God  of 
Israel.  But  it  ivas  inconsistent  with  the  service  due 
to  him  who  sat  enthroned  on  the  holy  hill  of  Zion. 
Having  rescued  his  covenant  people  from  Egyptian 
bondage  by  an  outstretched  arm,  and  organized  them 
under  the  happiest  auspices  into  a  nation,  he  an- 
nounced the  first  principle  of  their  government  in 
these  memorable  words :  "  Hear,  0  Israel,  the  Lord 
thy  God  is  one  Jehovah;  "  and  threatened  the  most 
terrible  penalties  against  those  who  would  give  the 
least  part  of  his  glory  to  another.  The  conduct  of 
the  Israelites,  then,  independent  of  its  criminality,  was 
the  most  foolish  and  inconsistent  that  can  well  be 
imagined.  They  endeavored  to  reconcile  what,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  could  not  be  reconciled,  the 
worship  of  the  one  only  God  with  that  of  many^  in- 
dulging the  fantastic  idea  that  by  this  means  they 
might  secure  the  favor  and  disarm  the  enmity  of  all. 
In  the  words  of  our  text  the  prophet  Elijah  re- 
bukes this  stupid  infatuation.  He  informs  his  hearers 
that  the  God  of  Israel  required  their  wliole  service  ; 
that  he  would  admit  no  compromise  or  accommoda- 
tion ;  and  that,  rather  than  persist  in  the  insulting 
course  they  had  adopted,  it  was  better  for  them  en- 
tirely to  reject  him  and  surrender  themselves  without 
reserve  to  all  the  abominations  of  heathenism.  The 
expression  used  is  remarkably  significant,  —  being 
taken  from  the  feeble  and  ineffectual  movements  of 
a  paralytic,  or  one  maimed  in  his  limbs,  who  drags 


SERMONS.  235 

himself  along  with  great  pain,  and  to  little  purpose. 
"  How  long  halt,"  or,  in  other  words,  limij^  "  ye  be- 
tween two  opinions." 

I  propose  to  attack  from  these  words  this  limping, 
—  that  neutrality  and  indecision  in  religion  which 
so  extensively  prevail  among  hearers  of  the  gospel. 
So  wide,  indeed,  is  its  prevalence,  that  we  may  pro- 
nounce it  the  rock  on  which  a  decided  majority  wreck 
their  immortal  souls.  It  has  pleased  a  benignant 
Providence  to  favor  our  day  and  land  with  happy 
exemption  from  atheism  and  speculative  infidelity. 
Kings  of  the  earth  no  longer  set  themselves,  or  rulers 
take  counsel  together  against  the  Lord's  Anointed. 
We  no  longer  hide  our  heads  in  corners  when  we 
meet  together  in  the  name  of  Christ.  We  assemble 
in  the  face  of  day.  Christian  churches  shoot  their 
tall  spires  in  the  skies.  The  Sanhedrim  has  lost  its 
authority ;  the  persecuting  Caesars  are  clods  of  the 
valley.  Christianity,  in  a  word,  has  become  the  object 
of  respect,  and  the  assent  to  its  doctrines  is  the  thing 
of  course  expected  from  all  who  have  our  esteem 
and  confidence.  Yet  that  all  are  not  Christians 
is  a  truth  too  manifest  to  admit  of  denial.  How 
comes  this,  we  are  naturally  disposed  to  ask  ?  How 
shall  we  account  for  the  singular  fact  that  persons 
respect,  venerate,  eulogize  the  religion  of  the  Bible, 
without  giving  any  evidence  of  really  and  practically 
adopting  it?  Alas,  it  is  one  of  those  many  incon- 
sistencies into  which  unhappy  man  seems  doomed  to 
fall,  and  which  admits  no  other  explanation  than  the 
broad  scriptural  proposition,  "  The  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God." 


236  SERMONS. 

The  fact  need  not  be  concealed,  and  cannot,  that 
the  most  of  men  are  content  with  walking  half-way 
between  God  and  the  devil,  —  afraid  of  leaning  too 
far  toward  either.  On  the  one  hand,  they  see  an 
intrinsic  excellence  and  reasonableness  in  religion  ; 
their  understandings  tell  them  that  it  is  right,  that  its 
laws,  its  rewards,  its  punishments,  are  all  admirably 
proper ;  its  noble  and  lovely  form  pleasingly  affects 
their  imagination.  But,  on  the  other,  they  find  at- 
tractions in  the  pleasures  of  sin  and  the  world,  which 
counterbalance  every  good  impression.  Hence  their 
disposition  to  compromise  the  matter.  They  will  not 
cast  off  the  service  of  God,  but  they  do  not  come 
up  to  the  great  rule  of  "  loving  him  with  all  the 
heart."  There  is  not  one  spark  of  life  or  energy 
in  their  religion.  It  produces  no  higli  joys,  no  deep 
sorrows,  no  definite  course  of  conduct.  They  will 
not  be  the  professed  slaves  and  drudges  of  sin,  work- 
ing all  iniquity  with  greediness  ;  but  they  have  no  ob- 
jection to  gratify  occasionally  an  unlawful  lust.  They 
will  keep  clear  of  flagrant  enormities  from  compli- 
ment to  God ;  but  sins,  less  presumptuous,  they  com- 
mit out  of  indulgence  to  themselves.  They  are  so 
far /or  religion  that  they  attend  with  commendable 
punctuality  its  public  institutions  and  ordinances. 
But  here  they  stop,  forgetting  the  more  private, 
and  paying  no  regard  to  the  devotion  of  the  heart. 
They  approve  the  various  benevolent  projects  of  the 
day,  the  cause  of  Sabbath  schools  and  Bible  societies, 
of  domestic  and  foreign  missions.  But  they  seldom 
give,  and  when  they  do,  the  amount  shows  that  their 
souls  are  pent  up  in  their  money-bags.     They  profess 


SER310NS.  237 

to  know,  and  are  sometimes  heard  to  exclaim,  in  a 
sentimental  way,  that  here  "  they  have  no  continu- 
ing city ; "  "  that  strait  is  the  gate,"  etc. ;  but  they 
walk  in  the  smooth-beaten  track  which  the  multitude 
tread,  are  always  in  the  fashion,  consult  their  own 
ease  and  pleasure,  fear  reproach,  are  impatient  of  re- 
proof, self-willed,  delighting  in  the  praise  of  men 
rather  than  the  praise  of  God. 

"  They  see  the  right,  and  they  fippvove  it  too; 
Pei-ceive  the  wrong,  and  yet  the  wrong  pursue." 

There  are  seasons,  however,  in  their  life,  when  the 
contest  between  light  and  darkness  in  their  soul 
seems  to  promise  a  more  happy  issue,  and  when  the 
religious  attraction  gains  a  temporary  ascendency. 
They  hear  an  impressive  sermon;  and  truth,  like 
a  barbed  arrow,  pierces  their  heart,  awakening  trains 
of  deep  and  painful  reflection.  Or  they  are  roused 
from  their  lethargy  by  the  death  of  a  friend,  —  a 
beloved  parent,  for  instance.  While  they  stand  be- 
fore the  cold  remains  of  her,  who  was  dearer  to  them 
than  any  other  earthly  object,  they  feel  how  poor 
is  that  riches  which  can  boast  no  inheritance  in  the 
skies.  A  solemn  purpose  is  formed  of  commencing 
in  good  earnest  the  Christian  pilgrimage.  They  con- 
verse with  pious  friends ;  are  assiduous  in  their  at- 
tendance at  the  prayer-meeting ;  under  the  influence 
of  their  chastened  and  purified  feelings,  unfold  many 
lovely  qualities  of  heart  which  surprise  their  most 
intimate  acquaintance ;  and  the  church  is  already 
rejoicing  in  the  prospect  of  clasping  to  her  parental 
bosom  new  trophies  of  redeeming   grace.     But,  be- 


238  SERMONS. 

fore  a  very  few  weeks  have  passed  away,  the  tear 
is  dried,  the  prayer  forgotten,  and  they  have  fallen 
back  into  a  deeper  torpor  than  that  from  which  they 
were  awakened.  A  little  worldly  society,  a  little 
temptation,  a  little  profane  raillery  from  their  com- 
panions, made  them  dismiss  all  their  resolutions  and 
perjure  themselves  before  God.  Perhaps  their  de- 
votional paroxysm  was  occasioned  by  a  fit  of  sick- 
ness. As  their  fever  rose  and  fell,  so  did  the 
fervors  of  their  religion.  Their  piety  was  regulated 
by  the  pulse.  When  the  physician  reported  one 
hundred  and  twenty  strokes  in  a  minute,  God  was 
a  most  glorious  Being,  eternity  an  awful  thought, 
and  preparation  for  it  the  only  proper  business  of  life. 
When  down  to  seventy,  a  considerable  spice  of  en- 
thusiasm was  found  in  their  former  sentiments,  and 
they  could  look  at  certain  subjects  with  a  much  more 
calm  philosophy.  Truly,  a  sublime  philosophy,  which 
depends  on  a  good  digestion,  and  which  an  attack 
of  headache  or  colic  can  at  any  time  throw  into 
delirium  tremens  ! 

In  such  a  wretched  halting  between  two  opinions, 
do  thousands  pass  their  lives ;  and  they  endeavor 
to  excuse  this  ignoble  state  of  mind  by  two  consider- 
ations. 

The  first  is,  that  as  all  salvation  is  of  grace,  and 
as  the  Author  of  it  is  the  most  merciful  of  beings, 
a  little  religion  will  go  a  great  way  with  a  judge 
so  inclined  to  he  favorable.  Hence,  they  feel  at 
liberty  to  let  the  garment  of  Christianity  sit  loose  on 
them,  content  with  paying  so  much  obedience  as  will 
allow  him  to  exercise  the  needed  indulgence,  without 


si:e3ions.  239 

grossly  outraging  his  justice  and  moral  rectitude. 
They  ask,  with  some  little  triumph,  whether  the 
design  of  Christ's  advent  into  the  world  was  not 
to  atone  for  sin  and  defects  ;  to  compensate  for  what 
we  have  not  done,  by  what  he  himself  hath  done ;  to 
cover  our  infirmities  and  nakedness  with  the  robe  of 
his  merit?  I  entertain  not  a  doubt,  that  this  is  a 
favorite  speculation  of  all  whom  I  am  now  describ- 
ing. They  do  make  the  Eedeemer  and  his  work 
a  minister  to  licentiousness ;  they  do  continue  in  sin, 
that  grace  may  abound,  —  and  from  the  very  blessed 
fact,  which  should  kindle  a  burning  ardor  in  the 
service  of  their  God  and  Saviour,  they  take  occasion 
to  stand  aloof,  or,  at  least,  to  halt  between  two 
opinions. 

Another  flattering  unction  they  lay  to  their  soul  is 
the  notion,  that  even  if  an  earnest  and  decided  re- 
ligion be  necessary,  yet  there  will  be  full  opportunity 
for  it  at  a  future  period.  Conscience  will  not  always 
permit  them  to  rest  in  the  former  consideration.  It 
tells  them,  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  that  nothing  short  of 
supreme  affection  to  the  Cod  of  life  and  redemption, 
a  confirmed  hatred  to  all  the  ways  of  sin,  will  secure 
an  interest  in  the  Redeemer's  merit ;  and  now  the 
policy  of  indefinite  or  definite  postponement  is  re- 
sorted to.  If  asked  on  what  grounds  they  defer  an 
event  so  essential  to  their  eternal  welfare,  they  are 
at  no  loss  for  answers.  Some  pressing  worldly  em- 
barrassment is  to  be  removed,  some  business  to  be 
adjusted,  a  certain  age  to  be  reached.  Nay,  I  per- 
sonally know  an  individual  who,  being  questioned 
why  lie  did  not  unite   himself  with  the  church  of 


240  SERMONS. 

Christ,  answered  that  he  was  ready  for  the  important 
step  three  years  previous,  but  that  he  had  been 
waiting  (kind  husband  as  he  was)  for  the  company 
of  his  wife !  At  other  times,  the  plea  of  deliberation 
is  used.  They  exhibit  themselves  in  the  dignified 
attitude  of  reflecting^  calculating^  seeking  light,  —  an 
excuse  sometimes,  indeed,  perfectly  valid,  but  much 
more  frequently  a  mere  pretext  for  indulging  the 
most  criminal  supineness  and  indifference.  Some 
are  engaged,  they  tell  us,  in  preparing  for  disciple- 
ship  by  a  course  of  gradual  reformation.  They  have 
not,  as  yet,  obtained  deliverance  from  a  particular 
passion,  or  vice  of  temper,  which  gives  them  much 
uneasiness  and  would  not  be  reputable  in  a  Christian 
professor.  They  are  not  sure  that  they  could  re- 
sist the  temptation  to  drink  a  little  too  deeply,  if 
thrown  into  certain  company  and  situations ;  or 
they  are  subject  to  violent  gusts  of  anger,  during 
which  they  act  more  like  madmen,  than  reasonable 
creatures.  They  are  sorry  to  add,  that  the  habit  of 
profaneness  is  not  entirely  eradicated.  These  things 
they  hope  to  correct  in  due  time,  and  then  shall  they 
join  hands  with  the  people  of  the  Redeemer.  Plausi- 
ble language,  and  quite  agreeable  to  flesh  and  blood. 
To  break  off  ungodliness  by  a  violent  wrench,  and 
at  once,  costs  too  much ;  they  cannot  think  of  it. 
They  know  that  they  have  no  right  to  continue  in 
the  violation  of  any  one  of  Heaven's  edicts  a  single 
hour,  and  that  the  very  thought  of  so  doing  is  a 
mockery  of  the  Divine  Being.  But  they  are  de- 
termined to  make  the  trial ;  they  resolve  on  getting 
better  by  degrees,  to  hate  the  ways  of  holiness  a  little 


SERMONS.  241 

less,  and  to  love  the  paths  of  sin  a  little  less,  from 
month  to  month,  or,  at  least,  from  year  to  year ;  and 
they  doubt  not,  that,  before  leaving  the  world,  if  they 
live  long  enough,  they  will  prove  excellent  Christians. 
Nothing  can  be  more  convenient  than  such  a  scheme. 
It  soothes  the  mind  in  its  guilty  terrors.  It  presents 
the  prospect  of  repenting  and  reforming.  It  takes  up 
the  purpose,  and  the  poor  deceived  man  is  habitually 
violating  the  most  solemn  commands  of  his  God, 
hardening  his  conscience,  and  strengthening  every  sin- 
ful principle  of  his  heart,  while  gayly  flattering  him- 
self that  the  experiment  of  gradual  improvement  is 
in  the  full  tide  of  successful  operation. 

Having  delineated  the  character  of  those  described 
in  the  text,  I  proceed  to  expostulate  with  them,  and 
convince  them,  if  possible,  of  their  guilt  and  folly.  I 
say,  if  possible,  —  for  if  the  heart  be  unaffected,  vain 
are  appeals  to  the  understanding;  and  this  is  the 
true  reason  why  the  gospel  minister  so  often  laboi's 
in  vain,  and  spends  his  strength  for  nought.  Wero 
you  as  willing  as  yon  are  able  to  discuss  the  question 
of  duty,  the  preacher  would  be  saved  many  long- 
speeches,  and  yourselves  many  tedious  hours  in  lis^ 
tening  to  him. 

I  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  course  of  con- 
duct described  is  the  most  unreasonable  that  can 
be  imagined.  The  great  distinction  between  a  wise 
man  and  a  fool  is,  that  the  fornier,  after  a  careful 
deliberation,  forms  his  maxims,  to  which  under  the 
conviction  of  their  truth  he  resolutely  adheres.  His 
decisions  are  fixed,  and  become  the  standard  and 
rule  of  his  conduct.     The  fool,  on  the  other  hand, 

21 


242  SEEMONS. 

rests  content  on  every  subject  with  vague  inapres- 
sions,  and  has  no  maxims,  unless  we  honor  with  that 
name  the  thousand  prejudices  he  has  received  from 
education  or  accident.  He  is,  therefore,  the  sport  of 
every  contingency.  He  is  guilty  of  innumerable  in- 
consistencies every  hour,  and  to  him  may  be  applied 
the  old  adage  concerning  death,  —  "  Nothing  is  cer- 
tain but  its  uncertainty."  That  he  should  adopt  a 
system  of  opinions  by  halves  is  not  surprising.  He  is 
a  fool ;  and  the  character  of  a  fool  is  that  he  holds 
conclusions  while  denying  the  premises,  and  holds 
the  premises  while  denying  the  conclusion.  From  a 
wise  man,  better  things  are  expected.  We  require 
him  to  be  consistent.  We  require  that  whatever  senti- 
ments he  adopts,  he  will  defend  in  all  their  bearings, 
and  that  he  will  practically  abide  by  their  results. 
However  great,  or  however  little  may  be  their  solid- 
ity, we  expect  that  he,  at  least,  will  feel  confidence  in 
them,  and  be  willing  to  stake  his  happiness  and 
hopes  upon  their  truth.  Such  is  the  reasonable  man 
in  common  life,  and  such,  let  me  say,  is  the  reasona- 
ble man  in  religion.  He  is  one  who,  scorning  the 
trammels  and  swaddling-bands  of  education,  aspires 
to  study  for  himself  the  great  question  of  obligation, 
and  discover  what  relations  exist  between  him  and 
his  Creator.  After  due  examination  he  adopts  con- 
clusions. Altogether  unlike  the  wretched  sophists, 
who,  glorying  in  their  shame,  count  it  the  highest 
honor  of  human  nature  to  be  enveloped  in  universal 
scepticism,  he  considers  truth,  —  knowledge,  as  the 
object  of  all  his  researches,  and  the  attainment  of 
which  can  only  justify  his  toil.     He  therefore,  as  I 


SERMONS.  243 

have  said,  adopts  conclusions ;  and,  not  stopping 
here,  unites  them  into  a  code  of  practical  principles 
which  give  a  complete  tone  to  his  whole  future  life 
and  conduct.  For  example,  if,  after  an  honest  scru- 
tiny into  the  evidences  of  a  Supreme  Being,  he  brings 
himself  to  believe  (pardon  me  the  supposition  that  a 
reasonable  man  can  bring  himself  to  believe),  that 
there  is  no  God,  he  at  once  rejects  him,  and  puts 
down  without  ceremony  the  rising  sentimentalities 
of  early  education.  If,  on  the  contrary,  he  is  con- 
vinced of  the  existence  of  a  great  First  Cause,  he 
acknowledges  it,  and  acts  upon  it.  If,  after  an  ex- 
amination of  the  authenticity  and  truth  of  the  gos- 
pel, he  discovers  it  to  be  the  invention  of  men,  no 
Bible-hankerings  will  prevent  him  from  thinking  so  ; 
and,  suiting  his  conduct  to  the  thought,  he  will  at 
once  cast  it  forth  from  his  heart,  his  family,  his 
closet,  and  take  reason  as  the  only  guide  of  his  pil- 
grimage through  life.  Does  he  find  it,  on  the  con- 
trary, to  justify  its  high  pretensions,  he  believes  it. 
Yes,  he  believes  it  in  the  richest  meaning  of  the 
word.  He  acquiesces  in  all  its  doctrines,  precepts, 
penalties,  and  rewards.  He  takes  it  as  a  light  to 
his  feet,  and  a  lamp  to  his  path.  He  exclaims, 
"  Oh,  how  I  love  thy  law  ;  it  is  my  meditation  all  the 
day  ;  "  .  "  mine  eyes  prevent  the  niglit-watches  that 
I  may  meditate  on  thy  word." 

If  there  be  any  justice  in  these  remarks,  I  would 
ask  how^  without  a  gross  abuse  of  language,  we  can 
honor  the  persons  described  in  the  text,  with  the 
name  of  reasonable  creatures  ?  The  reasonable  man 
is  one  who  forms  on  every  important  subject  decided 


244  BERMONB. 

opinions.  These  have  no  opinions,  —  on  themes,  too, 
of  absorbing  interest.  The  reasonable  man  carries 
out  his  belief  into  appropriate,  consistent  practice. 
These  are  halting  between  two  plans  of  conduct,  not 
only  at  variance  with  each  other,  but  as  opposite  as 
light  and  darkness :  like  a  stupid  mariner,  who,  un- 
willing for  some  reason  to  leave  his  anchorage  ground, 
holds  on  to  his  moorings,  while  at  the  same  time, 
desirous  of  gaining  his  destined  port,  he  spreads  all 
his  canvas  to  the  breeze.  Let  me  address  myself  for 
a  moment  to  them  in  friendly  expostulation.  You 
believe  that  there  is  a  God.  Why  do  you  not  serve 
him  ?  You  believe  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament.  Why,  then,  do  you  not  make  them 
the  supreme  rule  of  your  conduct  ?  You  are  there 
informed  of  your  miserable  condition  by  nature  ;  and 
yet  the  cry  has  never  been  heard  to  escape  your  lips, 
"  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ? "  You  are  there  made 
acquainted  with  Christ  and  the  terms  on  which  his 
redemption  is  applied ;  and  yet  you  have  never  be- 
lieved on  his  name,  nor  repented  towards  God.  The 
same  with  all  the  moral  truths  of  religion.  You 
believe  them  all  without  exception,  and  yet  contin- 
ually belie  them  by  your  life  and  conduct.  Certainly 
the  warmest  partiality  must  concede  that  you  are 
acting  most  unreasonably;  and  were  it  the  same  in 
the  things  of  this  world,  you  would  be  hooted  at 
as  fools  and  idiots.  But  there,  alas,  you  are  as  wise 
as  the  wisest !  Were  a  man  to  offer  you  what  had 
every  appearance  of  a  splendid  bargain,  you  might 
pause  for  a  moment ;  but  you  would  not  pause  long  ; 
the  decision  would  soon  be  made ;  or  if  the  offerer, 


SEEM  ON S.  245 

wearied  with  your  delays,  transferred  his  overture  to 
another,  how  would  you  curse  your  unreasonableness 
in  neglecting  so  excellent  an  opportunity  of  improv- 
ing your  condition  1  And  yet,  when  God  is  proffering 
all  the  riches  of  heaven  and  glory,  you  stand  aloof, 
fluctuating,  undecided,  though  you  know  not  what 
a  day  or  an  hour  may  bring  forth. 

Secondly.  This  course  of  conduct  is  unprofitable.  If 
any  good  effects  with  respect  to  a  person's  happiness 
resulted  from  neutrality  in  religion,  though  they 
would  not  take  away  guilt,  they  might  be  brought 
forward  as  a  plea  of  extenuation.  But  there  are 
none.  Its  only  tendency  is  to  limit  and  curtail  hu- 
man enjoyment.  Keligion,  like  the  fiery  pillar  which 
conducted  Israel  to  the  promised  land,  has  its  bright 
and  its  dark  side,  —  I  mean  its  pleasures  and  its  pains. 
The  service  of  sin  has  its  lights,  and  shadows  also. 
That  there  is  pleaswe  in  sin  cannot  be  denied,  how- 
ever we  may  question  its  solidity  and  duration.  There 
is  pleasure  in  forgetting  the  Being  to  whom  we  must 
give  an  account,  and  in  living  far  from  his  presence. 
There  is  pleasure  in  the  cup  of  intemperance,  how- 
ever it  may  turn  to  bitterness  in  the  end.  There  is 
pleasure,  to  men  of  a  certain  complexion,  in  low  and 
licentious  company,  in  degrading  sensual  gratifica- 
tion. There  is  pleasure  in  gambling,  in  violating 
the  Sabbath,  in  venting  malevolent  passions,  in  laugh- 
ing at  all  that  good  men  call  venerable  and  holy.  I 
say  not  that  the  enjoyment  is  of  a  very  elevated  na- 
ture, or  that  no  bitter  recompense  is  in  store.  Hell 
and  the  burning  wrath  of  God  are  a  tremendous 
drawback  on  such  pleasure.     Pleasure,  however,  it  is  ; 

21* 


246  SERMONS. 

and  tliey  who  wallow  in  open  vice  are  therefore  not 
without  their  remuneration.  Now  the  striking  pe- 
culiarity in  the  case  of  those  under  our  review  is, 
that  they  contrive  to  lose  the  satisfactions  both  of 
religion  and  sin  at  the  same  time.  They  know  little  of 
the  Christian's  joys,  but  experience  many  of  his  sor- 
rows and  privations.  Tliey  scarcely  taste  the  pleasures 
of  ungodliness,  for  they  dare  not ;  and  yet  feel  its 
envenomed  sting.  Universal  observation  proves  this, 
and  leaves  no  room  to  doubt  that  a  partial  religion 
makes  a  man  miserable  rather  than  happy.  By 
it  he  is  kept  back  from  many  indulgences,  which, 
though  unlawful,  are  real  sources  of  enjoyment ;  yet 
never  attains  that  true  peace,  those  prelibations  of 
celestial  felicity  which  God  gives  as  a  compensation 
to  those  who  love  him.  By  it  he  is  goaded  to  the 
performance  of  an  insipid  round  of  outward  ob- 
servances, unacceptable  to  God,  and  wearying  to  him- 
self. In  a  word,  he  forfeits  the  Devil's  pay,  though 
he  in  reality  serves  him  as  diligently  as  ever.  He 
has  religion  enough  to  feel  ivoe-hegone  and  anxious  in 
every  serious  conjuncture  of  life,  but  not  enough  to 
inspire  him  with  Christian  vigor  and  fortitude.  He 
has  enough  to  make  his  strong  frame  shiver  with 
agony  in  the  prospect  of  death,  but  not  enough  to 
put  into  his  lips  the  believer's  triumphal  song,  "  0 
death !  where  is  thy  sting  ?  0  grave !  where  is  thy 
victory?"  His  religion  will  not  let  him  enjoy  the 
world,  and  the  world  will  not  let  him  enjoy  God ;  so 
that  he  has  no  peace  in  either.  The  reckless  and 
abandoned  ruffian  has,  in  point  of  happiness,  a  de- 
cided advantage  over  him.      The  former,  confining 


seeaiojYS,  247 

himself  to  one  source  of  pleasure,  low  and  degraded 
though  it  be,  gains  something.  This  one,  grasping 
two  incompatible  goods,  loses  both.  Rest  assured  that 
never  will  the  comforts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  be  poured 
into  our  hearts,  never  will  our  piety  become  a  living 
fount  of  joy,  until  we  become  not  almost  but  alto- 
gether Christians. 

Thirdly.  The  conduct  referred  to  is  servile  and 
unmanly.  It  is  the  character  of  a  man,  that  is,  of 
one  who  proves  his  right  to  the  name  by  the  posses- 
sion of  a  manly  spirit,  that  when  he  sees  an  object 
before  him  which  it  is  desirable  to  obtain,  no  diffi- 
culties nor  sacrifices  will  deter  him  from  the  pur- 
suit. On  the  same  principle,  we  despise  the  coward, 
who  can  betray  a  noble  cause  through  fear  of  cer- 
tain dangers  and  personal  inconveniences.  Such  is 
the  spirit  evinced  by  those  whose  criminality  we  are 
exposing.  They  believe  that  the  unreserved  prac- 
tice of  religion  is  right  and  proper  ;  they  will  even 
concede,  in  their  hours  of  calmer  reflection,  that  it 
is  the  one  thing  needful ;  but  they  shrink  from  the 
privations  it  may  cost.  They  shudder  at  the  thought 
of  sacrificing  certain  indulgences  and  amusements,  of 
being  obliged  to  walk  circumspectly,  of  losing  caste 
among  their  gay  companions.  What  adds  to  the  un- ' 
manliness  is  their  still  persisting  in  attentions  to  the 
object  of  their  apprehension.  They  are  evidently 
afraid  of  being  too  intimate,  and  as  evidently  afraid 
of  being  too  far  distant.  Did  their  fears  induce  them 
to  neglect  it  altogether.,  this  w^ould  be  comparatively 
playing  the  hero ;  but  to  coquet  with  it,  to  treat 
it  in  this   flirting,  ambiguous   manner,  deserves   no 


248  SERMONS. 

other  name  than  superlative  treachery  and  cow- 
ardice. How  do  we  despise  a  man  of  whom  we  hear, 
that  he  makes  it  his  business  to  attend  the  levees 
of  two  hostile  political  leaders,  fawning  equally  on 
both,  and  anxiously  concealing  from  the  one  his 
attentions  to  the  other.  Such  is  the  respect  many 
pay  to  religion,  —  the  respect  of  a  slave,  —  outward, 
cringing,  hypocritical,  and  self-contradictory.  There 
sits  the  slave,  —  the  poor,  crouching,  shuffling, 
double-dealer  with  his  God.  His  whole  life  is  spent 
in  going  two  ways,  one  step  forward,  and  one  step 
backward.  He  is  continually  building  up  with  the 
one  hand,  and,  as  if  frightened  at  his  own  work, 
pulling  down  with  the  other.  He  loves  sin,  and  hates 
it ;  he  loves  God,  and  flees  from  him ;  he  would, 
and  he  would  not.  Must  not  a  mean  and  slavish 
spirit  be  at  the  bottom  of  a  character  like  this  ? 

Fourthly.  It  is  entirely  inexcusable.  If  tlie  ques- 
tion whether  it  was  our  duty  to  enter  on  a  life  of 
piety  was  difficult  to  answer,  some  hesitation  might 
be  allowed.  But  none  is  more  easy.  The  light  of 
nature  itself  decides  it ;  beside  which,  we  are  fur- 
nished with  an  ample  and  lucid  revelation.  Re- 
ligion, consisting  in  the  love  and  fear  of  God,  evinc- 
ing itself  by  universal  obedience,  we  are  distinctly 
told  is  "  the  one  thing  needful."  The  issue  of  a  con- 
trary course  is  painted  in  the  most  awful  colors,  and 
the  reward  of  holiness  in  language  the  most  stirring 
and  delightful ;  there  is,  therefore,  no  hard  problem  to 
solve.  "  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth  ; 
—  the  word  of  faith  which  we  preach."  To  continue, 
then,  in  suspense  for  a  moment  is  without  excuse. 


SERMONS.  249 

Were  there  many  paths  to  life,  an  interval  of  delay- 
might  be  demanded  to  ascertain  which  should  be 
preferred.  But  as  there  is  only  one ;  as  we  know 
there  is  but  one,  why  waste  precious  time  in  idling 
round  the  gate,  when  everything  around  us  and 
within  us  urges  to  decisive  action  ? 

The  inexcusableness  of  such  conduct  appears  not 
only  from  the  clearness  with  which  the  conditions  of 
salvation  are  exhibited,  but  from  their  ease  and  light- 
ness. What  doth  the  Lord  thy  God  require  of  thee  ? 
Must  you  forsake  your  pleasant  home,  and  travel  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth  in  search  of  something  rare 
and  difficult  to  be  obtained  ?  Must  you  offer  up 
thousands  of  rams,  and  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of 
oil  ?  Must  you  sacrifice  the  dearest  comforts  of  life, 
your  first-born  for  your  transgression,  and  the  fruit 
of  your  body  for  the  sin  of  your  soul  ?  Must  you  re- 
tire to  a  desert,  live  on  roots  and  water,  and  dig 
your  own  grave  in  the  sand  ?  None  of  these  things. 
You  are  not  required  to  sacrifice  one  human  af- 
fection or  sympathy.  The  unnatural  and  austere 
morality,  which  imposes  such  self-crucifixion,  has  no 
warrant  from  Scripture,  which  exhorts  us  to  "  eat  our 
bread  with  joy."  The  goodness  of  God  has  filled  the 
world  with  a  variety  of  pleasing  objects,  all  of  which 
have  a  claim  on  our  attachment.  They  administer 
the  means  of  satisfaction  and  comfort  to  soften  our 
passage  through  this  state  of  trial.  Many  of  them, 
by  their  order  and  brilliancy,  attract  the  warmest  ad- 
miration, and  excite  in  the  cultivated  mind  emotions 
of  beauty  or  sublimity  which  an  angel  might  ac- 
knowledge without  a   blush.     All   demanded  of  us 


250  SERMONS. 

is,  that  every  affection,  directed  to  transitory  objects, 
be  subordinate  to  the  love  of  Him  who  is  the  source 
of  all  excellence  and  felicity.  God  requires  us  to 
give  him  the  first  place  in  our  regard,  that  is  all ;  to 
show  ourselves,  in  all  conjunctures,  on  his  side  ;  to 
spend  our  property,  after  satisfying  our  necessary 
wants,  in  promoting  his  kingdom,  to  keep  his  Holy 
Sabbath,  to  maintain  secret,  private,  and  family  de- 
votion, and  to  live  as  those  who  have  their  conversa- 
tion in  heaven.  Let  any  man  in  this  assembly  give 
a  good,  substantial  reason  why  he  hesitates  an  in- 
stant in  commencing  a  life  like  this,  —  a  life  so  ex- 
cellent, so  happy,  so  divine,  that  in  comparison  with 
it  no  other  deserves  the  name.  Could  heaven  be 
more  cheaply  won  ? 

Lastly.  It  is  self-deceiving  and  self-destructive.  A 
little  religion,  like  a  little  learning,  is  a  dangerous 
thing.  It  elates  with  pride,  lulls  the  conscience  of 
its  possessor  into  a  fatal  slumber,  and  encourages 
him  to  say  "  Peace,  peace,  when  there  is  no  peace.'' 
Hence  the  old,  and,  in  some  respects,  true  observa- 
tion, thougli  liable  to  be  misunderstood,  that  the 
gross  and  scandalous  evil-doer  is  nearer  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  than  the  decent,  self-righteous  Pharisee 
who  maintains  the  form  of  godliness  without  the 
power.  The  former  has  no  pretensions  to  piety,  and 
is  prepared,  therefore,  to  see  his  wretchedness.  The 
latter,  though  equally  destitute  of  true  love  to  God, 
still  professes  attachment,  and,  resting  on  this,  he 
hardens  himself  against  every  attempt  to  convince 
him  that  he  is  poor  and  wretched,  miserable,  blind, 
and  naked. 


SEEllONS.  251 

It  is  true,  the  number  is  very  small  of  such  per- 
sons. There  are  few  of  our  limping  religionists  who 
can  rid  themselves  of  terrible  misgivings  that  all  is 
not  right ;  for,  as  I  have  already  observed,  a  partial 
religion  is,  in  general,  a  source  of  more  uneasiness 
than  enjoyment.  Yet  its  votaries  contrive  to  blunt 
the  keen  edge  of  their  fears  by  some  course  of 
thought  like  the  following:  — Heaven,  they  imagine  to 
be,  an  extensive  and  magnificent  mansion,  prepared 
for  a  multitude  whom  no  man  can  number,  and 
offered  to  mankind  on  certain  conditions.  Now, 
when  they  look  through  the  world,  they  discover  so 
few  conforming  to  the  terms,  in  their  spirituality 
and  rigor,  that  an  abatement  seems  absolutely  neces- 
sary in  order  to  secure  a  quorum.  God  must  adopt 
the  policy  of  the  proprietors  of  our  public  vehicles 
in  a  time  of  competition,  who,  to  avoid  the  disgrace 
of  running  empty,  are  fain  to  put  up  with  half-price  ; 
and,  if  so,  who  have  a  better  right  than  they  to  claim 
the  benefit  of  the  arrangement  ?  They  cannot  ex- 
pect indeed  a  high  place  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
But,  good,  humble  creatures,  they  do  not  ask  it; 
they  are  not  ambitious.  Little  desirous  of  any  in- 
timate acquaintance  with  God  in  the  present  life, 
they  are  not  greatly  troubled  with  the  thought  of 
standing  apart  from  him  in  the  next.  A  snug  cor- 
ner of  paradise,  be  it  ever  so  distant  and  out  of 
sight,  will  satisfy  their  highest  wishes.  Thus  they 
live,  thus  they  die,  and  discover  not  their  error  but 
by  the  light  of  the  inextinguishable  flame. 

We  conclude  with  a  few  reflections. 

First.     How   fatally  ignorant  are   many  of  their 


252  SERMONS. 

true  character  in  the  sight  of  God.  We  would  not 
indulge  in  uncharitable  judgment,  remembering  that 
with  what  measure  we  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to 
us  again ;  but  the  fact  is  too  notorious,  that  much  of 
the  Christianity  we  see  around  us  falls  exceedingly 
short  of  what  its  great  Author  requires.  How,  other- 
wise, can  we  explain  that  attachment  to  the  world, 
that  thirst  for  riches,  that  levity  of  deportment,  that 
fondness  for  giddy  pastimes  and  amusements,  which 
universally  prevail  ?  Are  these  symptoms  of  a  dis- 
position to  make  religion  and  the  service  of  God  our 
chief  joy  ?  Rather  do  they  not  strikingly  prove  that 
even  on  the  most  favorable  supposition  our  hearts  are 
divided  between  him  and  idols  ? 

Secondly.  We  see  the  fact  explained,  that  many 
who  begin  well  the  Christian  course  come  short  of 
the  Christian  reward.  They  stop  in  the  midst  of 
their  career.  Having,  under  the  common  operations 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  become  convinced  of  their  sin 
and  misery,  tliey  were  made  to  cry  with  the  im- 
portunity of  despair,  "  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved?  " 
Discovering  the  plan  of  redemption  by  Jesus  Christ, 
they  admired  its  glorious  suitableness  to  their  condi- 
tion, and  exclaimed,  with  an  honest  fervor, "  My  Lord, 
and  my  God."  So  far,  all  was  well.  But  here  they 
rested.  They  forgot  that  the  most  essential  part  of 
true  religion  is  self-dedication  to  God;  that  he  only 
is  accepted  who  yields  unlimited  obedience  to  his 
laws ;  and  that  he  who  makes  one  reserve  stops  short 
of  the  gate  of  immortality.  Thus,  terminating  their 
journey  heavenward,  they  have  at  last  found  them- 
selves excluded,  and  their  lofty  hopes  have  vanished 


SERMONS.  253 

into  vapor  before  the  tremendous  sentence  :  "  Depart 
from  me,  ye  workers  of  iniquity." 

I  conclude,  with  affectionately  exhorting  you  to 
make  thorough  work  of  your  religion.  It  is  an 
eternal  truth,  that,  if  Christianity  be  worth  anything ^ 
it  is  worth  everything  ;  if  it  deserves  thinking  about 
at  all^  it  deserves  thinking  about  almost  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  every  other  subject.  You  cannot,  in  this 
important  matter,  be  too  diligent,  too  decided. 
Many  have  had  reason  to  lament  their  indolence,  but 
none,  who  are  now  enjoying  the  heavenly  crown, 
complain  that  they  ran  with  too  much  eagerness  the 
race  set  before  them.  And  let  us  remember  that 
time  is  short.  Let  us  make  the  most  of  it,  by  press- 
ing into  it  as  much  virtue  and  religion  as  we  can. 
The  flower  of  the  field  must  scatter  its  odors  to-day ; 
to-morrow  it  is  gone.  Live  not  one  hour  in  vain. 
Whatever  opportunity  of  serving  God  you  have, 
seize  it  with  avidity ;  whatever  useful  undertaking 
you  may  have  meditated,  make  haste  to  execute ;  for 
soon  must  you  lie  down  in  the  dust,  and  the  eye  shall 
seek  you  in  the  morning,  but  you  shall  not  be. 
Thus  shall  you  secure  a  peace  which  will  sustain  you 
in  all  life's  trying  vicissitudes,  and  when  you  fall 
asleep  (the  servant  of  Christ  never  dies),  angelic 
whispers  shall  be  heard  around  your  bed,  lulling 
your  wearied,  but  happy  spirit  in  strains  like  this :  — 

'*  Servant  of  God,  well  done; 
Thy  glorious  warfare's  past, 
The  battle's  fought,  the  race  is  won, 
And  thou  art  crowned  at  last." 
22 


The  Two  Truths. 


XII. 

THE    TWO    TRUTHS. 


John  3:36.  "§)z  tbal  klkbttlj  on  i\t  ^axx  I^atlj  cbn-lasfmg  life:  anb 
\}t  Ibat  bcUcbctb  ixot  ihz  %a\x,  sl^all  not  sec  life;  bat  tb«  foratb  of  6oir 
abibdb  on  bim. 


T  is  not  difficult  to  assign  the  reason  why  our 
3'eligion  —  so   unaccommodating   and   in   al- 
most every  sense  unpopular,  as  well  on  ac- 
count of  the  purity  of  its  precepts  as  the  aw- 
fulness  of  its  sanctions  —  always   has  had  and  will 
have  sucli  devoted  friends  and  advocates.     The  ex- 
planation is  to  be  found  in  the  deep,  abiding  convic- 
tion, planted  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  soul  which 
he   is   pleased   to  make  the  object  of  his  teaching, 
that  it  is  the  only  scheme  which  promises,  on    any 
solid  grounds,  deliverance  from  the  evils  that  human 
nature  principally  dreads,  and  possession  of  the  bless^ 
ings  it  most  of  all  desires.     It  satisfies,  and  it  alone 
satisfies,  the  thoughtful  spirit's  longings  for  immor- 
tality.    After  making  fair  trial  of  other  expedients, 
—  all  disappointing  it,  all  ending  in  weariness  and 
disgust,  —  it  at  last  was  directed,  like  Hagar,  to  this 
fountain  in  the  desert,  and  has  found  refreshment. 
"He   that    believeth   on   the    Son,"    says   our   text, 
"  hath  everlasting  life  ;   and  he  that  believeth  not 
the  Son  shall  not  see  life." 

Without  entering  into  a  minute  exposition  of  the 

22* 


258  SEEMONS. 

words,  which  is  entirely  unnecessary,  we  propose  to 
make  them  the  basis  of  a  few  important  reflections, 
which,  if  they  do  not  excite  interest  and  serious  atten- 
tion, the  cause  must  lie  in  their  unhappy  presentation 
on  the  part  of  the  speaker,  or  sad  stupidity  in  you  the 
hearers. 

Our  first  observation  is,  that  all  men  need  some 
refuge  from  apprehensions  of  the  future  ;  some  re- 
source which  may  enable  them  to  look  forward  with 
any  kind  of  satisfaction  to  the  unresolved  problem,  — 
what  awaits  them  beyond  the  present.  This  need  is 
the  result  of  our  constitutional  ignorance  and  sinful- 
ness ;  our  ignorance  preventing  us  from  seeing  into  a 
future  state,  and  our  sinfulness  damping  what  dis- 
coveries we  may  make,  by  a  sense  of  guilt  and  a  fore- 
boding of  future  punishment.  With  regard  to  the 
former,  it  is  universally  acknowledged.  It  is  very 
certain  that  we  know  little  of  hereafter,  and  the  little 
we  do  know  is  by  no  means  decidedly  favorable  to 
our  wishes.  The  man  who,  unenlightened  by  Chris- 
tianity, first  dared  to  whisper  the  suggestion,  that  the 
grave  is  not  the  end  of  oar  career,  that  its  prison- 
doors  shall  be  opened,  the  prisoner  burst  his  chains 
and  soar  to  happier  regions,  —  that  man,  I  freely  ac- 
knowledge, offered  a  sublime  conjecture ;  and  he 
was  led  to  it,  I  concede,  by  many  specious  analogies 
and  presumptions.  He  thought  probably  of  the  vi- 
cissitudes of  the  seasons,  the  change  wrought  in  the 
chrysalis  of  insects,  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  soul, 
its  indefinite  capacity,  its  longings  after  immortality, 
the  justice  of  the  Almighty,  and  the  voice  of  con- 
science, —  all  tending  to  invest  with  a  shadowy  proba- 


SER3I0NS.  259 

bilitj  the  idea  of  future  existence.  But  conjecture, 
in  its  highest  degree  of  plausibility,  is  immensely 
removed  from  that  certainty  which  on  such  a  sub- 
ject is  necessary  to  give  repose  to  the  mind ;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, at  this  veri/  day^  the  mere  philosopher 
doubts  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul ! 

Thus  man  needs  a  resource  against  his  ignorance, 
but  much  more  against  his  conscious  guilt.  It  is  a 
sad  reflection,  that,  if  any  light  at  all  on  the  subject 
of  hereafter  beams  on  the  child  of  nature,  the 
greater  part  of  it  comes,  not  from  the  fountain  of 
Uglit^  but  darhiess^  —  I  mean  from  sin.  Christ  is 
the  only  credible  teacher  of  immortality  left  to  our 
desolate  vrorld  ;  and  our  single  comfort  is  that,  when 
it  denounces  "  tribulations,"  it,  too,  deals  only  in 
probabilities,  though,  it  must  be  confessed,  they  are 
of  the  highest  kind.  Who  that  reflects  on  these 
things  will  hesitate  to  acknowledge  that  human  na- 
ture has  need  of  a  resource,  which  may  nerve  it  to 
look  forward  without  shrinking  at  the  possibilities  of 
the  future  ?  Were  the  prospect  only  a  dark  one,  a 
resource  would  be  needed.  But,  merciful  God  !  how 
worse  it  is  than  dark ! 

Secondly.  Accordingly,  we  observe  that  the  gener- 
ality of  men,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  feel  this 
need,  and  resort  to  some  expedient  or  another  against 
the  fear  of  what  follows  after  death.  There  is  reason 
to  think  that  no  man,  at  least  no  man  of  ordinary 
cultivation,  is  perfectly  asleep  on  this  point.  The 
fault  of  the  majority  is,  not  that  they  despise  the 
blessedness  of  another  world,  for  this  is  impossible ; 
but  they  seek  where  they  cannot  find  it,  or  impose 


260  SEE3I0NS. 

upon  themselves  by  various  modes  of  thinking,  which 
as  effectually  deprive  them  of  this  blessedness  as  if 
they  did  not  seek  at  all.  Who  would  not  be  saved  ? 
Who  would  not  give  all  the  world  contains  for  a 
tranquillizing  assurance  that  when  the  soul  parts 
from  its  clay  tenement  the  bitterness  of  death  is  for- 
ever passed,  and  will  be  succeeded  by  a  joyful  morn- 
ing ?  Go  through  the  world  with  this  interrogatory. 
Ask  the  drunkard,  reeling  from  his  midnight  orgies ; 
ask  the  seducer  of  innocence,  the  midnight  assassin, 
the  ravager  of  kingdoms.  The  deadly  pallor  with 
which  the  very  suggestion  overspreads  their  coun- 
tenances sufficiently  evinces  that,  whatever  be  the 
certain  tendencies  of  their  conduct,  damnation  is  not 
in  any  of  their  calculations.  Hence,  as  no  nation 
is  to  be  found  without  its  religious  creed,  so  there  is 
scarcely  an  individual  who  has  not  provided  a  system 
of  opinions  in  which  he  may  find  shelter  from  the 
fears  of  an  unknown,  dark  futurity.  These  systems 
vary  with  the  temperament,  and  undergo  innumera- 
ble modifications  from  circumstances,  such  as  age, 
company,  course  of  reading,  and  education.  The 
man  of  literary  accomplishments  has  his  ;  the  vulgar 
have  theirs  ;  but  all  proceed  from  the  same  source, 
and  have  the  same  end  in  view. 

Thirdly.  We  now  proceed  to  observe  that,  apart 
from  the  revelation  of  the  blessed  gospel,  they  are 
all  inefficient  and  utterly  vain.  When  we  say  this, 
we  hazard  no  doubtful  proposition.  It  is  not  denied 
that  some  have  been  attended  with  partial  success ; 
that  the  bloody  rites  of  Paganism,  for  instance,  have 
frequently  armed  their  votaries  against  the  terrors  of 


SER3fONS.  261 

dissolution  ;  and  the  deluded  follower  of  the  Ara- 
bian impostor  has  found  in  the  unholy  dogmas  of  his 
sensual  creed  a  courage  which  enabled  him  to  bear 
up  not  only  against  life's  sorest  evils,  but  the  bitter 
pangs  of  death,  in  the  hope  of  immortality.  What 
we  contend  for  is  the  entire  inadequacy  of  all  the 
devices  sought  out  and  embraced  by  human  inge- 
nuity to  tranquillize  a  reflecting  mind.  Go  where 
we  will,  if  we  go  not  to  Christ,  we  have  neither  peace 
to  the  conscience,  nor  rest  to  the  heart. 

Take  a  few  examples.  Shall  we  go  to  atheism  9  — 
The  speaker's  heart  would  die  within  him,  could  he 
imagine  that  there  was  one  within  reach  of  his  voice 
disposed  to  hesitate  as  to  the  answer.  Atheism  is 
the  madness  of  human  nature.  He  who  can  take 
complacency  in  the  idea  of  standing  naked  in  a 
fatherless  world  ;  in  the  idea  that  virtue  and  crime, 
judgment  and  retribution,  death  and  the  life  beyond  it, 
are  high-sounding  words  of  emptiness,  —  only  proves 
that  there  are  no  assignable  limits  to  the  mind's 
power  of  self-abasement.  And  what  does  he  gain  ? 
"What  tempts  him  to  cut  away  with  ruthless  hand 
everything  in  human  belief  that  is  dignifying  and 
dear  to  a  pure  heart?  He  thinks,  doubtless,  that 
his  scheme  puts  an  eternal  extinguisher  on  those 
fears  of  hereafter  which  so  often  interrupt  his  pleas- 
ures, and  awaken  him  at  the  midnight  hour.  "  No 
God  !  —  then  no  life  to  come  :  —  then  let  me  eat  and 
drink,  for  to-morrow  I  die."  But  does  he  reason 
well,  even  on  his  own  horrible  principles  ?  Examine 
this  point  for  a  moment.  It  is  certain  that  we  exist 
at  present,  whatever  becomes  of  us  in   the  future  ; 


262  SERMONS, 

that  wc  feel ;  that  we  often  terribly  suffer.  How 
happens  this?  The  atheist,  of  course,  replies,  by 
cJiance  :  all  things  are  in  a  continual  flow,  and  among 
the  endless  vicissitudes  and  revolutions  that  have 
been  taking  place,  t6'e  have  sprung  up  in  our  turn  ;  — 
it  being  as  Hkely  that  such  a  modification  of  matter  as 
man  should  happen  to  exist  as  any  other  modification. 
But  now  comes  a  question  which  probably  did  not  oc- 
cur to  him  while  constructing  his  ingenious  argument : 
whether,  on  the  same  notable  principle  of  chance,  my 
existence  may  not  he  protracted  beyond  the  change  that 
takes  place  at  death  ?  What  is  to  insure  me  against 
undergoing  a  revolution  like  that  experienced  by 
many  animals,  who  die  in  winter  and  revive  in  spring  ? 
I  live  at  present ;  may  I  not  live  hereafter  ?  I  suffer 
now  ;  may  I  not  suffer  hereafter  ?  and  what,  in  the 
doctrine  of  chance,  assures  me  that  this  suffering 
shall  not  be  a  thousand  fold  greater  than  in  exist- 
ing circumstances  ?  Such  is  the  system  of  the  un- 
happy atheist.  While  it  tears  away  every  consola- 
tion in  the  hour  of  trial,  everything  soothing  to  a 
good  man's  soul,  every  motive  to  virtue,  it,  at  the 
same  moment,  whispers  in  the  ear  of  its  votary  that 
his  worst  apprehensions  may  be  realized  to  the  full. 
Oh,  thou  haggard  monster,  whom  even  hell  dis- 
owns,—  wherever  we  seek  relief,  we  seek  it  not  in 
thee! 

Shall  we  go  to  deism,  —  that  more  common  form 
of  infidelity,  which,  rejecting  the  Christian  revela- 
tion, but  borrowing  from  the  treasures  it  affects  to  de- 
spise, acknowledges  the  existence  of  an  almighty 
First  Cause ;  his  inspection  over  the  conduct  of  his 


SEEMOXS.  263 

creatures,  and  a  future  state  of  punishment  and 
reward  ?  Though  there  is  something,  in  this  sys- 
tem, out  of  sight,  more  noble  than  can  be  found  in 
the  dismal  slough  of  atheism,  truth  compels  us  to 
say  that  there  is  nothing  more  unsatisfving.  What, 
in  the  first  place,  is  to  assure  the  deist  that  the  Bible 
is  not,  as  it  professes  to  be,  the  unerring  u'ord  of 
God,  and  that  its  solemn  denunciations  are  not  the 
genuine  expressions  of  the  diyine  anger  against  sin  ? 
He  may  dispute  the  sufficiency  of  its  evidence,  and 
infer,  from  what  he  thinks  a  comprehensive  view  of 
the  whole  subject,  that  prohahly  it  is  not  of  celestial 
origin.  But  he  dare  go  no  further.  Here  he  must  stick. 
After  all,  Jesus  Christ  may  be  no  impostor,  his  doc- 
trine no  delusion,  Tophet  no  fable ;  and  what  is  the 
position  of  the  deist  then,  habitual  despiser  as  he  is  of 
the  blood  of  God's  everlastmg  covenant  ?  But  pass- 
ing this,  and  allowing  him  to  have  satisfied  himself 
that  the  gospel  is  a  falsehood,  the  query  now  arises, 
where  else  shall  he  go  ?  What  doctrine  will  give  him 
that  repose  which  the  words  of  Christ  fail  to  impart  ? 
Let  him  go  to  one  portion  of  the  globe,  and  he  will 
see  unnumbered  multitudes  worshipping  before  the 
shrine  of  uncleanness,  or  precipitating  themselves 
beneath  the  wheels  of  an  idol's  car.  In  another 
direction,  a  father  is  taking  his  little  one  from  the 
bosom  of  its  mother,  and  enclosing  it  in  the  burning 
arms  of  Moloch.  In  another,  he  sees  a  whole  nation 
oifering  up  its  prayers  to  a  butterfly.  Or,  sick  of  hu- 
man folly,  will  he  look  out  on  beautiful  nature,  and, 
from  the  contemplation  of  her,  evolve  a  system  of 
beliefs  which  shall  not  be  altogether  imworthy  of  a 


264  SERMONS. 

rational  being  ?  But,  when  he  fairly  girds  liimself 
to  this  task,  he  soon  finds  that  he  has  entered  on  a 
dark  and  dreary  path.  The  first  object  of  his  anxiety 
will  be,  of  course,  to  ascertain  the  intentions  and 
temper  of  the  Deity.  When,  for  this  purpose,  he 
surveys  his  actual  ways  and  works,  he  is  astounded 
at  finding  that  the  unequivocal  proofs  of  his  perfect 
goodness  are  enclosed  within  a  very  narrow  compass. 
He  sees  much  good  in  the  world,  —  does  he  not? 
Ay !  But  does  he  not  see  much  evil  f  Does  he  not 
find  a  character  of  misfortune  clearly  impressed  on 
his  own  nature,  in  all  stages  of  his  progress  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave,  affording  sad  omen  of  what  may, 
perhaps,  take  place  hereafter.  Besides,  when  he  at- 
tends to  the  operations  of  his  own  mind,  he  discovers 
there  a  profound  conviction  that  he  is  under  the 
just  displeasure  of  the  Lord  of  all  worlds ;  and  when 
he  looks  abroad,  he  sees,  in  the  trembling  anxiety  of 
all  nations  to  propitiate  their  deities  by  blood,  a 
proof  that  this  consciousness  is  universal,  and,  there- 
fore, has  some  foundation  in  truth ;  for  there  is  no 
such  a  thing  as  an  universal  error. 

There  is  a  circumstance,  deserving  notice,  which 
must  give  a  terrible  increase  to  his  forebodings  that  it 
may  not  be  well  with  him.  Had  his  Maker  any 
favorable  intentions,  is  it  not  likely  that  some  pre- 
intimation  would  be  given  of  them, — would  be  given 
in  the  way  of  taking  him  out  of  the  world  ?  We  can 
hardly  suppose  that  a  monarch  would  order  one  of 
his  subjects  to  be  forced  from  his  bed  at  midnight, 
violently,  with  many  accompaniments  of  pain  and 
disgrace,  unless  to  inflict  some  terrible  punishment. 


SERMONS.  265 

Certainly,  the  subject  would  feel  little  hope  that  these 
were  stepping-stones  to  a  high  place  in  his  Master's 
favor.  Apply  this  analogy  to  death.  How  are  we 
taken  out  of  the  world  ?  Are  we  not  torn  from  it, 
just  as  a  criminal  is  torn  from  his  house  to  be 
immured  in  a  dungeon  ?  Our  body  is  racked  with 
23ain  ;  our  spirits  wither  ;  we  send  forth  strange  sighs 
and  groans  ;  our  friends  weep  over  us,  and,  when  the 
struggle  is  over,  put  on  funeral  garments,  and  receive 
the  condolements  of  surviving  friends.  Everything 
bears  witness  that  death  is  not  understood  by  the 
unsophisticated  human  heart  to  be  the  passage  of  a 
king's  son  up  to  his  father's  house.  Would  it  not 
rather  seem  as  if  it  were  a  prelude  to  something 
more  dreadful  than  itself?  Believe  me,  you  who  go 
to  infidelity,  go  to  learn  in  a  gloomy  scliool.  She  is  a 
sufficiently  pleasant  companion,  no  doubt,  to  thought- 
less and  giddy  youth,  caracoling  along  the  broad 
highway  of  life,  intent  only  on  the  gratification  of  the 
present  hour.  Many  are  the  quirks  and  jeers  at  the 
moroseness  of  the  bigot,  which  she  can  sport  for 
his  amusement,  and,  by  her  help,  he  can  overcome 
many  disagreeable  compunctions  which  stand  in  the 
way  of  forbidden  pleasure.  But  woe  to  him  who 
arrives  at  the  end  of  his  course,  and  has  no  other 
guide !  Looking  down  the  dismal  steep,  she  turns 
pale,  and  faints,  and  dies ;  or,  suddenly  transformed 
into  a  demon,  triumphs  in  the  misery  of  her  be- 
sotted dupe,  and  with  her  own  hands  precipitates 
him  into  the  yawning  gulf.  "  0  my  soul,  come 
not  into  the  secrets  of  infidelity ! " 

But  we  shall  not  any  longer  detain  you  from  the 


266  SEBMONS. 

most  important  and  delightful  jDart  of  our  subject. 
The  text  is  not  a  negative  proposition,  blessed  be 
God !  It  does  not  cast  down,  but  builds  up.  It  does 
not  kill,  but  makes  alive;  and  so  makes  alive,  that  its 
quickened  ones  shall  live  forever.  '^  He  that  believ- 
eth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath  everlasting  life."  To  a 
few  proofs  and  illustrations  of  this,  your  attention 
shall  now  be  directed. 

We  say,  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  Jesus  Christ 
alone  has  the  gift  of  eternal  life,  as  he  is  the  only  effec- 
tive teacher  of  it ;  the  only  Master  who  inculcated  the 
doctrine  upon  his  disciples,  and  made  its  absolute, 
undoubted  certainty  the  corner-stone  of  his  whole 
system.  The  idea  of  immortality  undoubtedly  ex- 
isted long  before  his  advent ;  but  he  alone  brought  it 
down  from  the  clouds  of  doubt,  to  that  soher  certainty, 
which  fitted  it  to  be  practically  influential,  and  to 
mingle  itself  with  the  every-day  feelings  and  calcula- 
tions of  men.  Mark  his  habitual  language.  "  Yerily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that  heareth  my  word  hath 
eternal  life,  and  shall  not  come  into  condemnation, 
but  is  passed  from  death  imto  life."  "  Yerily,  verily, 
the  hour  is  comins;  when  the  dead  shall  hear  the 
voice  of  the  Son  of  God^  and  they  that  hear  shall 
live."  Who  dared,  besides  the  Man  of  Galilee,  to 
talk  in  a  strain  like  this  ?  You  see  nothing  dark 
or  perplexing  in  the  language:  it  is  the  Minister 
of  Heaven  who  speaks,  —  one,  who  has  himself 
come  from  the  celestial  cabinet  which  he  repre- 
sents, and  with  his  own  eyes  has  seen  the  fair 
mansions  which  are  preparing  for  the  heirs  of  im- 
mortality.   I  speak  not  at  present,  at  least  directly, 


SERIfONS.  267 

of  the  truth  of  this  statement.  Whether  Jesus  is,  in 
these  respects,  what  he  professes  to  be,  is  a  distinct 
consideration.  We  only  say,  that  a  prophet  of  im- 
mortality cannot  be  asked  to  give  a  better  account  of 
the  way  in  which  he  received  his  instructions.  Had 
he  reasoned  like  the  sages  of  the  schools,  he  might 
have  obtained  liis  share  of  disciples,  and  his  system 
taken  its  place  among  the  otherwise  conjectures  of 
the  age  ;  but,  in  this  case,  would  have  been  entirely 
destitute  of  that  certainty,  which  has  made  it  super- 
sede every  other,  and  be  acknowledged  by  all  civil- 
ized humanity,  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun, 
man's  best  blessing  and  surest  guide. 

Hear,  also,  the  language  of  the  apostle :  "  We 
know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle 
were  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  an  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens."  And 
who  dared  to  talk  thus ;  who  dared  to  say,  "  we  know," 
but  the  disciples  of  this  Master  ?  There  is  something 
exceedingly  delightful  in  all  this,  —  in  teachings  so 
direct,  so  unqualified,  and  fearless,  on  such  a  subject ; 
especially,  when  we  contrast  them  with  the  timid 
doubt  that  is  found  everywhere  else.  For  we  natu- 
rally ask,  how  could  this  teacher  speak  with  such 
assurance  of  manner,  and  inspire  his  scholars  with 
such  confidence  of  belief,  unless  he  derived  his 
knowledge  from  an  authentic  source  ? 

And  here  is  a  most  powerful  additional  considera- 
tion ;  that  he  tells  us  he  received  his  certain  knowl- 
edge, precisely  in  the  way  we  judge  he  would  have 
received  it,  —  not  from  problematical  and  indetermi- 
nate reasonings,  but   from  his  eternal  Father,  who 


268  BERMONS. 

sent  him  for  the  express  purpose  of  announcing  to  a 
desponding  race  his  merciful  designs.  This  is  enough. 
We  have  the  will  of  him  who  made  us,  that  we 
should  have  eternal  life,  expressed  in  the  clearest 
terms,  hy  an  ambassador  who  could  not  mistake  ;  for 
he  was  God's  own  eternal  Son,  who  lay  in  his  bosom, 
and  shared  in  his  most  secret  councils.  "  I  came 
down  from  heaven,"  he  says,  "  not  to  do  mine  own 
will,  but  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me  ;  and  this 
is  the  Father's  will  which  hath  sent  me,  that  of  all 
which  he  hath  given  me,  I  should  lose  nothing,  but 
should  raise  it  up  again  at  the  last  day." 

We  observe,  secondly,  that  Jesus  Christ  has  the 
gift  of  eternal  life,  inasmuch  as  he  has  revealed  the 
only  scheme  of  it  consistent  with  the  principles  of 
divine  government,  and  calculated  to  meet  the  diffi- 
culties which,  to  a  reflecting  mind,  present  themselves 
on  this  subject.  Let  us  suppose  that  some  wise  man 
among  the  heathen  had  stepped  forth  before  the  pub- 
lic, and  taught  the  doctrine  witli  all  the  energy  and 
directness  of  Christ  himself.  Suppose,  still  more, 
that  lie  had  assumed  the  prerogative  of  an  ambas- 
sador from  heaven,  and  that  his  hearers  were  quite 
willing  to  acknowledge  him  in  this  august  character ; 
we  contend  that  not  one  of  the  numerous  crowd, 
however  fascinated  by  the  charms  of  his  eloquence, 
would  retire,  their  understandings  satisfied,  and  their 
hearts  perfectly  at  ease.  He  has  announced,  indeed, 
with  clearness  the  fact.  But  human  nature  wants  a 
great  deal  more.  We  must  know  how  a  fact  so 
anomalous  in  the  government  of  God  could  take 
place  J    how  it  was   rendered    consistent  with    the 


SEEMONS.  269 

divine  holiness  to  treat  the  sinner  with  impunity  ; 
how,  in  short,  rebellion  has  stalked  through  one  of 
the  richest  provinces  of  God's  empire,  and  been  re- 
warded for  its  misdeeds  by  the  joys  of  immortality. 
Jesus  Christ  alone  has  expounded  this  fearful  prob- 
lem. Do  you  ask  where  ?  I  answer,  in  the  stable 
of  Bethlehem;  the  garden  of  Gethsemane;  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  Pilate ;  in  the  dying  exclamation,  "  My 
God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  You 
comprehend  me.  You  understand  that  the  complete 
and  all-prevailing  atonement  he  wrought  out,  as  the 
substitute  of  guilty  man,  is  that  exposition.  By  an- 
swering all  the  designs  of  justice  in  punishing,  it  has 
removed  the  necessity  of  punishing,  and  given  room 
for  the  exercise  of  benevolence  to  our  perishing  race. 
It  has  enabled  the  Divine  Magistrate  of  the  universe 
to  be  "just  in  justifying,"  and  to  receive  the  polluted 
rebel  into  the  arms  of  his  mercy  without  himself  re- 
ceiving a  single  stain.  This  was  the  grand  jDoint  on 
which  human  nature  desired  to  be  enlightened ;  but 
desired  in  vain,  till  the  day-spring  from  on  high  re- 
vealed the  true  sacrifice  for  sin,  —  a  glorious,  nay, 
Divine  Mediator,  who  has  levelled  the  mountains  of 
separation  between  heaven  and  earth;  harmonized 
mercy  with  moral  government,  and  brought  God  and 
man  together,  never  to  be  sundered  more. 

Thirdly.  The  miracles  of  Jesus  prove  that  he  has 
eternal  life.  If  we  have  a  teacher  of  high  preten- 
sions, blessed  be  God  !  he  performed  works  while 
on  the  earth  which  leave  no  doubt  on  the  mind 
whether  he  is  able  to  make  them  good.  We  have 
not,  indeed,  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  seeing  them 

23* 


270  SERMONS. 

personally.  This  is  not  necessary,  nor  would  be 
proper.  Not  necessary  ;  for  the  question  is  not,  ivho 
saw  them,  but,  ivere  they  done  ?  And  so  long  as  be- 
lief in  testimony  keeps  its  place  among  the  sources  of 
knowledge,  this  question  can  receive  but  one  answer. 
Nor  proper ;  for  where  would  be  the  propriety  of 
making  our  earth  the  scene  of  constant  miracle,  that 
is  to  say,  constant  transgression  of  the  laws  by  which 
it  is  governed  ?  Is  it  not  plain,  that,  if  these  laws  be 
good  and  salutary,  the  less  they  are  violated  the  better, 
and  that  it  should  take  place  only  on  those  extraordi- 
nary emergencies  when  the  divine  purposes  cannot 
be  attained  otherwise  ?  And  this  has  been  the  actual 
course  of  Providence  in  all  ages.  When  the  eternal 
Son  appeared,  there  was  a  plea  for  the  universe  being 
put  in  a  sort  of  temporary  confusion ;  for  it  was  the 
universe's  high  jubilee.  But  now  that  life  and  im- 
mortality have  been  brought  to  light  and  established 
on  sufficient  evidence,  law  has  resumed  the  reins, 
and  all  things  go  on  as  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  Yet  it  is  to  be  held  in  devout  and  everlast- 
ing remembrance,  that  heaven  and  earth  once  bore 
witness  to  their  incarnate  God. 

Here  advert  for  a  moment  to  the  way  in  which 
the  miracles  of  Jesus  give  testimony  to  his  having 
eternal  life  for  sinners.  They  do  so  by  establishing 
the  divinity  of  his  mission,  addressing  themselves  to 
two  of  the  most  fundamental  laws  of  belief  in  the 
human  mind  :  first,  that  none  but  the  Author  of 
nature  can  invert  the  regular  course  of  physical 
events ;  and,  secondly,  that  it  is  morally  impossible, 
even  for  him,  to  invert  it  that  sanction  be  given  to  a 


SEE310NS.  271 

falsehood.  This  was  the  "Redeemer's  own  argument 
to  the  unbelieving  Jews  :  "•  The  works  that  I  do  in  my 
Father's  name,  they  bear  witness  of  me.  If  I  do  not 
the  works  of  my  Father,  believe  me  not ;  but  if  I  do, 
though  ye  believe  not  me,  believe  the  works,  that  ye 
may  know  and  believe  that  I  am  in  the  Father  and 
the  Father  in  me."  But  there  is  another,  perhaps 
yet  more  convincing,  light  in  which  the  subject  may 
be  viewed.  Independently  of  the  question  where 
miracles  originally  came  from,  they  are  so  many  iin- 
medlate,  practical  illustrations  of  the  worJcer^s  jyresent 
ability  to  do  whatever  He  has  promised.  Many  of  us 
have  read  of  the  way  in  which  the  captain  of  a  ship 
gained  the  confidence  of  a  savage  tribe,  with  whom 
he  was  trading,  and  who  were  not  acquainted  with 
the  use  of  fire-arms.  With  the  view  of  impressing 
upon  them  his  immense  power  to  do  them  good  or 
harm,  he  raised  his  gun  and  shot  a  little  bird  perched 
on  a  twig  at  some  considerable  distance.  This  at 
once  convinced  them  of  his  superiority  and  power  to 
make  good  both  threats  and  promises.  Such  is  the 
operation  of  miracles  I  am  now  referring  to.  They 
satisfy  the  mind,  not  so  mucli  because  they  prove  di- 
rectly a  divine  mission,  —  though  this  they  most  tri- 
umphantly do,  —  as  because  they  evince  that  he  who 
can  do  such  works ^  is  able  to  accomplish  all  the  won- 
ders of  grace  tliat  he  has  promised.  Look  at  him 
while  performing  one  of  his  mighty  acts, — unstopping 
the  ears  of  the  deaf,  or  restoring  the  dead  to  life,  — 
and  imagine  the  reflections  passing  through  tlie  spec- 
tator's mind.  Standing  over  a  grave  three  days 
closed,  he  commands :  "  Lazarus,  come  forth ! "     It  is 


272  SERMONS, 

doiiG.  The  sleeping  prisoner  awakes,  comes  forth  in 
the  garments  of  death,  and  presents  himself  to  the 
astonished  eyes  of  the  multitude  a  living  man ! 
Imagine,  now,  that  you  hear  from  the  author  of  this 
stupendous  work,  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  amazed 
throng  :  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life  :  he  that 
believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he 
live."  Could  there  be  a  plea  for  doubt  ?  Has  he  not, 
we  may  suppose  one  of  his  auditors  exclaiming,  this 
very  moment  done  a  work  quite  as  stupendous,  as  im- 
possible in-  the  eye  of  man  ?  True,  I  do  not  see  him 
giving  eternal  life,  for  I  cannot  penetrate  the  veil  that 
shrouds  the  future.  But  I  see  he  can  give  it, —  I  see 
from  the  result  of  the  present  experiment  that  he 
most  certainly  has  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death. 
Yes,  Lord  Jesus,  I  see  that  thou  art  the  resurrection 
and  the  life.  How  confirming  to  faith  is  this  view  of 
the  subject !  Our  Saviour  has  already  done  great 
things  in  the  earth ;  and  he  has  done  them  that  we 
"  mio'ht  have  a  strons;  consolation  who  have  fled 
for  refuge  to  lay  hold  upon  the  hope  set  before  us." 
He  has  done  them  to  strengthen  our  faith  in  the 
far  greater  things  he  is  yet  to  do,  v^hen,  coming  down 
from  heaven  in  the  clouds,  he  shall  change  the  vile 
bodies  of  his  saints  and  make  them  conformable  to 
his  own  glorious  body,  "  according  to  the  working 
whereby  he  is  able  even  to  subdue  all  things  to  him- 
self." 

I  observe,  fourthly,  that  facts  of  every-day  occurrence 
prove  that  Jesus  has  eternal  life.  We  do  not  see  him 
call  a  Lazarus  from  his  grave,  or  feed  five  thousand 
with  two  loaves  and  three   fishes,  or  saying  to  the 


SERMONS.  273 

winds  and  waves,  "  Peace,  be  still."  But  we  can 
see  sights  nearly  as  extraordinary.  We  see  his  gos- 
pel triumphing  over  the  tempestuous  sea  of  the 
human  heart,  humbling  its  waves  of  pride  and  rebel- 
lion, softening  its  ferocious  passions,  elevating  its 
grovelling  desires;  and,  to  crown  all,  pouring  into  it  a 
heavenly  consolation.  We  see  it  taking  hold  of  the 
drunkard,  and  he  comes  out  of  its  hands  an  ascetic ; 
of  the  miser,  and  he  becomes  the  open-handed  friend 
of  God  and  man ;  the  sensualist  it  makes  chaste ; 
persecuting  Saul,  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
Mary  Magdalen  in  whom  were  seven  devils,  the  weep- 
ing follower  of  her  Lord  when  all  men  forsook  him. 
Oh,  there  is  a  spirit,  there  is  a  life  in  the  words  of 
Jesus,  which  may  be  felt  but  cannot  be  told  !  When 
he  speaks  directly  to  the  heart,  that  heart  cannot  re- 
sist ;  it  must  break  ! 

Let  it  not  be  insinuated  that  the  change  is  but  tem- 
porally. Here,  too,  facts  are  decisive,  that  the  new 
life,  breathed  into  the  soul  at  conversion,  not  only 
continues  as  long  as  the  natural,  but  perceptibly 
grows  and  becomes  vigorous,  while  the  other  as  per- 
ceptibly decays  ;  thus  verifying  the  promise  :  "  They 
that  be  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  shall  flourish 
in  the  courts  of  our  God.  They  shall  be  fat  and 
flourishing ;  they  shall  bring  forth  fruit  in  old  age." 
The  conclusion  v>^e  draw  from  all  this  is,  that  when 
we  put  our  confidence  in  Christ  we  confide  in  one 
who  will  never  disappoint  us.  Thus,  thougli  unable 
to  draw  the  veil  from  the  scenes  of  the  other  life,  to 
see  what  is  doing  there,  we  may  form  a  good  conjec- 
ture from  what  he  is  doing  here.     He  now  gives  a 


274  si:emons. 

new  life  to  the  soul :  can  he  not  give  the  life  of  glory 
of  which  it  is  an  emblem  ?  Nay,  what  is  the  life  of 
heaven,  on  the  grand  and  beautiful  principles  of  his 
system,  but  the  lengthening  out  and  expansion  of  that 
given  in  regeneration  ?  It  is  not  another,  but  the 
same  new  life,  going  on,  always  growing,  and  through 
endless  ages  increasing  with  the  increase  of  God. 
The  seed  of  grace  is  the  seed  of  immortality. 

Fourthly.  To  one  other  proof  I  will  call  your  no- 
tice. Every  true  Christian  has,  with  greater  or  less 
evidence,  witness  within  himself  that  Christ  has  the 
gift  of  eternal  life.  "  The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness 
with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the  children  of  God." 
We  cannot  explain  this  distinctly.  It  seems  to  be  a 
second  consciousness,  —  an  instinct  imparted  to  the 
soul  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  which,  taking  the  place  of 
argument  and  logical  deduction,  gives  all  the  cer- 
tainty and  repose  to  the  mind  which  it  experiences  at 
the  close  of  a  mathematical  demonstration.  It  is 
connected  with,  or  rather  constituted  by,  such  exer- 
cises as  these  :  a  conviction  of  sin  and  helplessness  ; 
a  perception  of  the  infinite  glory  and  suitableness  of 
the  plan  of  salvation  by  Christ,  and  an  entire  resting 
in  it ;  a  view  of  the  absolute  insufficiency  of  every 
other  ;  and  all  this,  as  we  have  said,  not  the  result 
of  study  and  meditation,  but  the  direct  teaching  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

Do  not  call  it  a  delusion.  No  man  has  a  right  to 
sit  in  judgment  over  a  sentiment  he  has  never  him- 
self experienced  ;  and,  of  all  unreasonable  decisions, 
tliat  is  the  most  unreasonable,  which  brands  a  certain 
class  of  feelings  with  the  odious  name  of  fanaticism, 


SEEiMONS.  275 

on  no  other  ground  than  the  incompetency  of  the 
decider  to  appreciate  them.  Besides,  that  the  inter- 
nal persuasion  referred  to  is  not  a  dehision  can  be 
proved  by  its  excellent  effects.  It  enables  the  plain- 
est and  most  unlettered  Christian  to  hold  fast  his 
confidence  in  the  Saviour,  though  deprived  by  his 
position  of  all  ability  to  investigate  the  external  evi- 
dence. It  arms  him  against  the  assaults  of  error ; 
and  many  are  the  disciples  of  the  Master,  who,  with- 
out this  anointing  of  the  Holy  One,  would  make 
dreadful  shipwreck  of  their  faith.  But  here  is  their 
preservative.  Let  the  enemy  drive  them  from  all 
their  strongholds  of  argument.  There  is  07ie  where 
he  cannot  reach  them.  Tiiey  can  take  refuge  in  their 
own  hearts,  and  appeal  to  that  unutterable  sense  of 
a  Saviour's  love  which  has  been  shed  there  by  the 
Holy  Spirit.  They  can  afford  to  be  discomfited  in  the 
field  of  argument ;  for  who  in  earth  or  hell  can  forbid 
them  to  feel?  Who  shall  tear  from  their  heart's 
core  the  persuasion  planted  there,  that  Jesus  Christ 
came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  and  that  nothing 
can  separate  from  his  love  ?  I  have  little  hope  that 
this  statement  will  meet  the  approbation  of  all  who 
hear  me.  ''  Pure  rant  and  fanaticism,"  some  are  in- 
ternally ejaculating.  My  devout  and  fervent  prayer 
for  every  one  of  you  is,  that  you  may  die,  if  you 
have  not  the  grace  to  live,  just  such  ranters,  just 
such  fanatics! 

And  now,  in  closing,  let  me  urge  upon  you  the 
serious  improvement  of  what  has  been  said.  We 
have  not  distracted  you  with  a  multitude  of  topics. 
Two  truths  only  have  been  presented,  and  of  these, 


276  SERMONS. 

one  is  so  aivful,  and  the  other  so  precious^  that  you 
are  without  excuse  if  you  suffer  either  to  be  forgotten. 
The  first  is,  that  they  who  reject  the  gospel  Saviour 
reject  their  life.  The  second  is,  they  wlio  do  receive 
him  are  eternally  secure.  Wliat  reception  do  you 
intend  giving  them  ?  Where  do  you  propose  to  build 
for  eternity  ?  Do  not  say  tliat  you  are  still  in  sus- 
pense. This  would  be  paying  your  understanding  a 
very  sorry  compliment,  and  it  is  not  true.  There 
is  not  one  of  you  but  is  trusting  in  sometliing.  You 
all  have  a  hope.  Whether  it  be  a  good  hope,  or  that 
of  the  hypocrite,  which  is  a  spider's  web;  —  whether 
it  be  clay,  or  sand,  or  stubble,  or  the  foundation  of 
the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  liimself 
being  the  chief  corner-stone,  —  oh,  this  is  a  question 
well  worth  the  pains  of  studying !  and  I  solemnly 
call  upon  you  to  study  it  with  all  the  powers  of  your 
souls,  remembering  the  words  of  Christ :  "  He  that 
is  not  with  me  is  against  me  ;  and  he  that  gathereth 
not  with  me,  scattereth  abroad."  Sad  will  be  the 
issue,  if,  with  your  opportunities,  you  build  on  a 
false  foundation.  You,  and  your  refuges  of  lies, 
shall  be  destroyed  together. 

One  word  to  you  in  the  ministry.  It  is  your  high 
privilege  to  be  ambassadors  of  Christ,  for  the  purpose 
of  announcing  to  a  lost  race  the  eternal  life  he  has 
secured  for  all  who  accept  his  gracious  proffers. 
While  you  appreciate  the  honor,  forget  not  its  re- 
sponsibilities. Be  faithful  to  tlie  trust  reposed  in  you  ; 
and  while  you  point  to  the  golden  city  in  the  skies, 
let  men  see  that  you  are  yourselves  walking  in  the 
pathway  which  leads  to  it.    Imitate,  while  you  preach. 


SJEEMOiYS.  277 

your  blessed  Master  ;  so  that  when  he,  who  is  your 
life  shall  appear,  you  may,  with  a  goodly  number  of 
his  followers  to  whose  salvation  your  labors  have  con- 
tributed, stand  before  him  and  say,  "  Father,  here  am 
I  and  the  children  whom  thou  hast  given  me." 

21 


Trustworthiness  of  the  Evangelists. 


xin. 

TRUSTWORTHINESS    OF   THE    EVAN- 
GELISTS. 


John  \9  :  34.     ^ul  ant  of  i\n   solbitrs  fuHl^   a  sjjrar  ptxttb  I^is   sibe, 
anb  fortljbit^  tmm  tljcw  out  bloob  anb  foatcr. 


HE  incident  here  recorded  is  one  which  ap- 
pears to  have  made  a  singularly  deep  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  the  narrator.  The 
other  disciples,  panic-stricken  at  the  horrors 
which  were  accumulating  over  their  Divine  Master, 
and  alarmed  for  their  personal  safety,  had  forsaken 
him  and  fled.  John  alone  remained,  chained  to  the 
spot  by  love  to  him  on  whose  bosom  he  had  so  often 
reclined,  and  recollections  of  whose  divine  tender- 
ness and  wisdom  clustered  round  his  heart  amidst  all 
the  appalling  circumstances  which  surrounded  him. 
He  places  himself  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  determined 
to  be  a  critical  observer  of  everything  that  should 
transpire, — suppressing  all  those  emotions,  the  indul- 
gence of  which  might  interfere  with  the  stern  and 
solemn  duty  which  the  providence  of  God  had  im- 
posed upon  him,  as  the  official  reporter;  and  the 
result  is,  the  inestimable  privilege,  enjoyed  by  the 
church,  of  having  a  faithful  record  by  an  eye-witness 
of  the  whole  train  of  events  on  which  she  builds  her 
immortal  hope. 

Among  the  astonishing  facts  which  arrest  his  no- 

24* 


282  SERMONS. 

tice,  none  appeared  so  inexplicable  as  the  flow  of  a 
mingled  stream  of  water  and  blood  from  the  stricken 
side  of  his  Master.  He  does  not  pronounce  it  in 
so  many  words  a  miracle.  But  that  it  was  in  his 
eyes  wonderful^ — portentous;  that  there  seemed  to 
be  something,  the  occurrence  of  which  his  readers 
would  be  slow  to  credit,  is  plain  from  his  earnest  and 
reiterated  affirmation  of  the  truth  of  his  testimony, 
"  And  he  that  saw  it  bare  record,  and  his  record 
is  true :  and  he  knoweth  that  he  saith  true,  that 
ye  might  believe." 

What  appeared  so  unaccountable  to  the  Evangelist, 
has,  with  the  light  thrown  upon  it  by  modern  science, 
lost  much  of  its  mystery.  It  is  now  perfectly  well 
known,  that  the  pericardium,  or  membranous  bag 
which  envelopes  the  heart,  contains  a  quantity  of 
lymph,  or  watery  fluid,  designed  to  lubricate  the 
parts  and  enable  them  to  perform  with  ease  the 
actions  on  which  depends  the  very  existence  of  the 
vital  principle.  In  a  sound  and  normal  condition  of 
body,  the  quantity  is  small;  not  more  than  will  fill  a 
table-spoon.  But  there  is  a  disease  not  uncommon, 
frequently  produced,  physicians  tell  us,  by  mental 
agitation,  in  which  the  secretion  is  so  abundant,  that 
it  becomes  a  regular  dropsy,  known  by  the  name  of 
dropsy  of  the  pericardium.  Its  connection  with 
strong  mental  excitement,  particularly  that  of  grief, 
is  stated  in  all  our  books  of  medicine.  Usually  its 
progress  is  slow  and  gradual,  as  with  other  dropsical 
affections  ;  but  in  a  system  predisposed  by  the  con- 
currence of  causes  favorable  to  its  production,  a  few 
hours  will  develop  it  with  fearful  malignity.     The 


SERMONS.  '  283 

sudden  death  by  disease  of  the  heart  which  some- 
times takes  place,  the  patient  having  previously  been 
subjected  to  depressing  influences,  may,  in  many 
cases,  be  attributed  to  this  source. 

That  the  blessed  Saviour  should  have  suffered  dur- 
ing the  few  last  days  of  his  life  under  this  affection, 
is  nothing  more  than  might  be  expected  from  his  un- 
paralleled sufferings.  In  the  garden,  such  was  their 
intensity,  that  he  is  heard  exclaiming,  "  My  soul  is  ex- 
ceeding sorrowful,  even  unto  death;"  and  the  sweat 
pours  from  his  body  as  great  drops  of  blood.  What 
a  picture  of  agony  is  here !  I  will  not  be  charged 
with  exaggerating,  when  I  say  that  had  a  skilful 
modern  pathologist  been  present  on  the  occasion,  he 
would  have  pronounced  that  the  individual  before 
him  could  hardly  escape  a  disease  of  the  heart.  The 
sorrows  of  Gethsemane  are  followed  by  the  treason 
of  Judas ;  his  trial  before  the  bar  of  Pilate ;  ex- 
posure to  the  taunts  and  demoniac  rage  of  an  ungodly 
rabble ;  the  purple  robe  and  crown  of  thorns,  fol- 
lowed by  a  death  the  most  cruel  that  the  devilish 
ingenuity  of  man  coiild  invent. 

Now,  the  frail  organism  of  his  body  was  liable 
to  all  the  vicissitudes  which  those  of  his  younger 
brethren  experience ;  subject  to  the  same  laws  of 
life,  affected  by  the  same  morbific  influences,  and,  if 
not  cut  off  prematurely,  would  have  perislied,  as  other 
organisms,  by  disease,  or  old  age.  That  it  should 
have  been  the  subject  of  a  malady  so  often  found  in 
companionship  with  excessive  mental  torture,  need 
not  astonish,  but  rather  lead  us  to  adore  the  depths 
of    divine   wisdom,   which   has  thus    furnished   the 


284  SERMONS. 

church  with  an  irrefragable  proof,  to  endure  forever, 
of  the  reality/  of  our  Saviour^ s  death. 

You  are  aware  tliat  infidelity  labors  to  throw 
doubt  on  the  great  cardinal  fact  of  our  religion, —  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus ;  by  suggesting  that  he  did  not 
really  die ;  adopting  the  theory  of  the  Jews,  that 
he  had  only  become  insensible,  and,  being  resuscitated 
by  friends  who  had  access  to  the  body,  was  able 
on  the  third  day  to  present  himself  to  his  admiring 
disciples  a  living  man.  Extravagant  as  this  hypoth- 
esis may  be,  it  is  calculated  to  perplex.  No  argu- 
ments are  more  unreasonable,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
more  difficult  to  answer,  than  those  drawn  from 
abstract  possibilities.  We  may  appeal  to  probability 
in  its  highest  form,  to  the  natural  and  almost  invari- 
able course  of  human  events ;  still  the  concession 
that  it  may  he  so,  involving  no  direct  and  palpable 
contradiction,  has  a  chilling  effect  on  the  strongest 
minds:  we  feel  the  absence  of  that  overpowering 
conviction  always  desirable,  but  which  seems  ab- 
solutely necessary  where  the  truth  involves  our  dear- 
est, nay,  eternal  interests.  Happily,  the  simple  cir- 
cumstance recorded  in  the  text  meets  effectually  this 
hypothesis.  A  Roman  soldier,  with  spear  in  hand, 
advances  to  the  victim  who  had  already  ceased 
giving  proofs  of  life,  though  vital  action  was  probably 
not  extinct,  pierces  him  in  the  side,  penetrating  the 
pericardium,  and  immediately  the  phenomenon  oc- 
curs, which  places  the  reality  of  his  death  beyond  the 
reach  of  scepticism.  A  wound  in  that  vital  part  is 
known  to  be  as  fatal  as  injury  to  the  heart  itself;  but 
there  was  not  a  wound  merely ;  the  membrane  was 


SERMONS.  285 

completely  ruptured.)  and  from  the  gaping  orifice  pro- 
ceeded "  water  mingled  with  blood."  The  water 
issued,  as  already  stated,  from  the  pericardium.  It 
could  have  had  no  other  source.  The  torrent  of  blood 
proved  that  the  aorta,  or  great  artery  of  the  heart, 
had  also  received  mortal  injury.  Thus,  the  two  facts 
in  their  combination  establish,  with  surprising  force  of 
evidence,  the  truth  of  both  the  great  events,  which 
have  ever  been  regarded  the  central  points  of  our 
holy  faith,  —  the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Son 
of  God. 

Now,  the  point  to  which  we  call  your  special  at- 
tention is  this ;  that  our  narrator  had  no  knowledge 
whatever  of  the  scientific  bearings  of  this  tissue 
of  events.  John  did  not  know  that  he  had  a  pericar- 
dium which  contained  a  lubricating  water.  He  was 
not  a  physician,  and  even  had  he  been,  the  science  of 
those  days  would  have  furnished  no  solution  of  what 
he  saw.  Of  the  relation  of  the  heart  to  the  human 
system,  as  the  great  blood-fountain  which  sends  the 
vital  fluid  leaping  through  a  thousand  channels  to 
every  part ;  of  the  existence  of  a  membranous  bag 
enclosing  it,  and  containing  lymph,  or  a  watery  fluid, 
which  in  certain  conditions  of  the  system,  undergoes 
enormous  increase ;  of  the  certain  fatality  that  attends 
a  rupture  of  this  exquisite  machinery,  he  understood 
as  little,  as  of  the  chemical  composition  of  water,  or 
the  anatomy  of  the  brain.  The  whole  affair  was  a 
paradox,  an  enigma.^  and,  accordingly,  we  find  him 
giving,  in  another  part  of  his  writings,  an  allegorical 
solution  of  it :  "  This  is  he  that  came  by  water  and 
blood,  even  Jesus  Christ  ;   not   by  water   only,   but 


286  SERMONS. 

water  and  blood."  To  understand  this,  we  must  bear 
in  mind  the  two  great  methods  of  ceremonial  purifica- 
tion in  the  Jewish  church,  —  blood  and  water,  which 
were  usually  combined.  After  the  transgressor  had 
made  expiation  by  sacrifice,  sprinkling  himself  with 
its  blood,  he  was  required  to  wash  in  pure  water,  on 
which  he  was  restored  to  his  former  standing  in  the 
house  of  God.  The  blood  and  water  from  the  Re- 
deemer's side  symbolized  to  the  thoughtful,  and 
imaginative  John  the  perfection  of  his  saving  work. 
It  realized  all  the  expressive  adumbrations  of  the 
Mosaic  law.  The  whole  idea  of  cleansing  from  moral 
pollution  was  exhausted  in  it,  so  that  nothing  re- 
mains to  be  desired,  or  even  thought  of.  Such  is  the 
probable  meaning  of  that  obscure  expression,  "He 
came  by  water  and  blood ;  not  by  water  only,  but  also 
blood." 

With  this  we  have  no  concern,  however,  at  present. 
Our  object,  in  the  remarks  that  follow,  is  to  offer  a 
few  general  illustrations  of  the  candor^  honesty^  and 
truthfulness  of  the  sacred  historians  of  the  New 
Testament.  The  question  then  presents  itself :  Why 
did  St.  John  relate  an  occurrence  to  him  so  unintel- 
ligible, and  which  only  tended  to  strengthen  the 
prejudices  which  his  countrymen  entertained  against 
the  truth  ?  The  reason  is,  he  saw  it.  He  could 
not  dovetail  it  with  any  theory.  With  his  own  eyes 
he  gazed  at  the  mysterious  stream  issuing  from  the 
smitten  rock  of  his  salvation,  and  he  could  no  more 
withhold  the  mention  of  what  he  observed,  than  that 
of  any  other  fact  of  which  he  was  personally  cogniz- 
ant.    As  to  giving  a  commentary,  does  it  ever  enter 


SERMONS.  287 

an  honest  man's  mind  to  give  a  commentary  on  what 
he  actually  saw  f  Many  might  stumble  at  the  record. 
He  would  probably  be  called  a  liar,  or  a  poor  fantastic 
simpleton,  on  whom  no  dependence  could  be  placed 
within  the  sphere  of  his  monomaniacal  illusions.  But 
he  must  put  up  with  all  these  consequences  ;  for  the 
transaction  occurred  in  his  presence.  There  was  no 
mistake  in  the  matter  :  "  He  that  saw  it  bare  record, 
and  his  witness  is  true,  and  he  knoweth  that  he  saith 
true,  that  ye  might   believe." 

We  will  not  stop  but  for  a  moment  to  enumerate 
the  marks  of  veracity  which  a  narrative  must  bear  to 
make  a  claim  on  our  faith.  They  are  well  known, 
every  day  acted  on,  and  so  sure  that  few  are  de- 
ceived who  take  pains  to  avoid  it.  Of  all  parts  men 
have  taken  it  into  their  heads  to  play,  that  of  liars  is 
the  most  difficult,  if  the  story  be  in  the  least  com- 
plicated or  embrace  a  great  variety  of  particulars. 
Whatever  be  their  skill  in  deception,  we  are  sure  to 
detect  them  by  the  Ithuriel  spear  of  questions  like 
these :  are  they  circumstantial  in  their  relations, 
giving  opportunity  to  all  acquainted  with  the  subject 
to  compare  their  own  observations,  and  ascertain 
whether  there  be  or  be  not  essential  discrepancies  ? 
Are  they,  if  more  than  one,  accordant  with  each 
other,  and  yet  not  too  accordant ;  in  other  words,  is 
their  harmony  so  combined  with  difference  of  state- 
ment as  proves  that  they  did  not  act  on  a  precon- 
certed scheme  ?  Is  their  manner  plain,  downright, 
simple,  without  any  appearance  of  art  or  subtlety  ? 
Is  it  vivid,  such  as  characterizes  a  man  who  describes 
what  he  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes  ?     Is  it  candid, 


288  SERMONS, 

embracing  facts  which  the  witnesses  would  certainly 
have  withheld  if  they  intended  fraud  ?  Are  the  inci- 
dents such  as  they  were  incapable  of  fabricating  if 
they  had  not  taken  place  ?  Finally,  are  they  disin- 
terested ?  Can  it  be  shown  that  they  receive  no 
advantage  from  their  story,  but  are  exposed  by  it  to 
danger,  privation,  and  death  itself;  and  is  it  a  fact 
that  many  have  actually  endured  the  last  extremity 
of  mortal  suffering  rather  than  gainsay  any  part  of 
it  ?  It  is  not  in  the  nature  of  falsehood  to  unite, 
imder  any  circumstances,  these  characters  of  truth. 
They  are  the  stamps  of  Heaven  itself,  which  no  in- 
genuity can  counterfeit,  and  they  are  all  found  in 
those  remarkable  narratives  from  which  we  draw  our 
religious  consolations  and  our  most  exalted  hopes. 

Let  us  advert  to  some  of  them,  taking  care,  how- 
ever, to  divest  ourselves  of  all  prejudgments.  This, 
indeed,  is  far  from  easy.  Trained  from  earliest  in- 
fancy to  profoimd  reverence  for  our  religion,  our 
imagination  has  invested  its  original  cln-^iiclers  with 
a  mysterious  sanctity.  We  fear  to  scan  them  closely, 
lest  we  offend  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and  applying  to 
them  those  rules  by  which  we  try  the  productions  of 
men  like  ourselves,  seems  like  the  fearful  presump- 
tion of  those  who,  under  the  old  economy,  would  have 
dared  to  enter  the  holy  place,  and  curiously  survey 
the  mystic  ark.  But  this  is  sheer  superstition.  Had 
our  religion  a  voice,  it  would  tell  us  that  it  is  never 
better  pleased  than  when  it  encounters  some  critical 
Thomas,  who  wants  to  give  it  and  its  human  witnesses 
a  thorough  handling.  Christians  lose  much  of  the 
peace  and  trustful  confidence  of  piety,  by  not  holding 


SEE3I0NS.  289 

more  frequent  converse  with  these  excellent  men, 
simply  as  men^  bearing  all  the  lineaments  of  our  com- 
mon humanity.  Gazing  in  mute  reverence  at  John 
and  Paul  in  the  pulpit,  they  are  bashfully  shy  to  meet 
them  in  the  parlor  and  the  walks  of  private  life :  the 
consequence  is,  deplorable  ignorance  of  that  moral 
loveliness  of  character,  that  lofty  personal  integrity 
on  which  must  rest  all  enlightened  belief  in  their 
divine  inspiration.  For,  I  ask,  what  evidence  have 
we  that  these  good  men  spake  as  they  were  moved  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  ?  Because,  you  reply,  the  sacred  in- 
fluence vv^as  promised  by  Christ.  Most  true  ;  but 
how  do  we  know  that  it  was  promised  ?  —  from  the 
narratives  of  those  who  followed  him  during  his 
eventful  ministry.  Plainly,  therefore,  our  faith  in 
the  doctrine  of  their  inspiration  is  based  entirely  on 
their  trustworthiness  luithoiit  it.  The  truth,  that  they 
were  organs  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  is  not  a  house 
built  in  the  air,  but  has  its  basement  in  the  earth  : 
it  requires  the  profound  and  undoubting  conviction 
that  they  were  honest  men. 

That  they  were  so,  look,  in  the  first  place,  at  the 
exactness  and  overflowing  profusion  of  their  ac- 
counts, so  opposite  to  everything  we  would  expect 
from  a  putter-forth  of  falsehoods.  If  deception  was 
their  object,  tliey  were  the  most  extraordinary  per- 
sons that  ever  set  up  the  trade.  The  events  they 
profess  to  relate  took  place  in  the  midst  of  the  peo- 
ple, under  circumstances  of  the  greatest  publicity. 
They  occurred  but  a  few  years  before,  so  that .  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  were  still  in  life,  who  could  judge 
of  the   correctness   of    the   accounts   from   personal 

25 


290  SERMONS. 

knowledge.  Never  did  men  lay  themselves  so  com- 
pletely open  to  detection.  The  scene  of  their  story 
is  not  the  desert  of  Arabia,  or  some  obscure  corner 
of  a  province  in  the  outposts  of  civilization,  but  the 
very  centre  of  the  Roman  empire,  exceeded  by  no 
other  part  in  the  number  of  cities  and  the  extent  of 
population.  They  mark,  with  almost  wearisome 
minuteness,  the  times  of  the  principal  transactions, 
the  places  where  they  occurred,  and  the  persons  who 
figured  in  them.  Jesus  was  born  under  Herod  the 
Great,  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  Caesar,  at  the  time 
when  there  went  forth  a  decree  that  the  whole  empire 
should  be  taxed.  The  taxing  was  first  made  when 
Cyrenius  was  governor  of  Syria.  His  parents  re- 
sided in  Nazareth,  a  town  of  Galilee.  He  was  born, 
however,  in  Bethlehem.  The  place  of  his  baptism 
was  Bethabara  beyond  Jordan.  Among  the  various 
places  he  is  recorded  as  visiting  and  honoring  with 
exhibitions  of  his  miraculous  powers  are  Cana, 
Sychar,  Chorazin,  Nain,  Gadara,  Cesarea,  Philippi, 
the  coasts  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  Decapolis,  Jericho, 
Bethany,  Bethphage,  Jerusalem.  In  all  these,  some- 
thing memorable  is  recorded  to  have  taken  place, 
which  the  inhabitants  could  not  possibly  have  forgot- 
ten. The  celebrated  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was 
preached  on  a  hill  near  the  city  of  Capernaum.  The 
water  was  turned  into  wine  in  Cana  of  Galilee.  At 
Nain  he  restores  to  life  the  widow's  son.  At  Bethany 
he  raises  Lazarus  from  the  dead.  If  you  doubt  it, 
go  to  Bethany.  Names  of  persons  are  detailed  with 
the  same  precision,  as  also  their  parentage,  business, 
and  civil  dignities.     It  was  Nicodemus  who  came  to 


SER310NS.  291 

Jesus  by  night,  and  he  was  a  Jewish  senator.  Joseph 
was  another,  and  his  native  city  was  Arimathea. 
Mary,  from  whom  seven  demons  were  cast,  belonged 
to  Magdala.  Whoever  doubted  the  miracle,  might 
visit  that  city  and  ask  the  inhabitants. 

Not  content  with  such  specifications  as  these,  our 
writers,  as  if  they  had  set  their  hearts  on  provoking 
scrutiny  to  the  utmost,  relate  events  of  which  there 
were  thousands  of  spectators  gathered  from  every 
part  of  the  land.  Witness  the  feeding  of  five 
thousand  men,  besides  women  and  children,  near  the 
city  of  Bethsaida  ;  many  of  whom  were  certainly  alive 
twenty-five  years  after,  when  one  of  the  Gospels  was 
published.  But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  public  ap- 
pearances of  Jesus  in  the  midst  of  the  Jewish  me- 
tropolis ?  Passing  over  his  triumphant  procession 
amidst  the  hosannas  of  an  immense  concourse  of 
people,  strewing  garments  and  branches  in  his  way  ; 
his  overturning  the  tables  of  the  money-changers  ; 
his  memorable  exclamation  in  the  temple,  where  all 
Israel  was  assembled  to  keep  the  feast  of  tabernacles  ; 
fix  your  eye  a  moment  on  the  circumstances  of  his 
trial  and  death.  It  occurred  at  the  Passover.  The 
trial  is  stated  to  have  been  conducted  before  the  great 
Sanhedrim ;  next,  before  Pilate,  by  whom  it  was  trans- 
ferred to  Herod,  who  happened  to  be  at  that  time  in 
Jerusalem,  who  remanded  it  to  the  Roman  governor. 
He  is  publicly  condemned,  buffeted,  spit  upon,  borne 
amid  the  execrations  of  the  populace  to  the  com- 
mon place  of  execution,  and  there  suspended  be- 
tween two  malefactors  on  the  cursed  tree.  After 
his   resurrection,  the   narrative   states  he  was   seen 


292  SERMONS. 

by  jive  hundred  persons  at  once,  many  of  whom  were 
living  at  the  time  the  account  was  published.  Now, 
I  am  not  assuming  the  positive  truth  of  these  minute 
statements.  I  only  say  that  they  were  made^  —  made 
at  the  time,  —  made  when  every  incident  was  fresh  in 
the  minds  of  men  ;  that  their  enemies  did  not  at- 
tempt to  confute  them  but  by  the  sword  of  persecu- 
tion, and  listened  in  sullen  silence  to  the  bold  chal- 
lenge of  Peter,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  when  he 
declared  that,  "  They  had  crucified  and  slain  a  man 
approved  of  God  among  them  by  miracles  and  won- 
ders and  signs,  which,"  he  adds,  "  God  did  by  him 
in  the  midst  of  you^  as  ye  yourselves  also  hnow.'^^ 

And  now  the  question  fairly  meets  us,  whether, 
under  such  circumstances,  we  can  believe  that  the 
authors  of  our  record  were  retailers  of  fiction.  If 
so,  we  must  go  a  step  further,  and  pronounce  them 
the  most  impudent  madmen  ever  permitted  to  go  at 
large ;  while  their  enemies,  in  not  exposing  their 
falsehoods,  and  thus  putting  a  stop  to  the  progress 
of  their  religion,  displayed  an  idiocy  without  ex- 
ample in  the  annals  of  mankind. 

Observe,  next,  their  agreement  in  all  the  essentials 
of  their  testimony.  No  criterion  of  veracity  is  more 
satisfactory  than  this,  provided  it  does  not  lead  to 
suspect  a  previous  combination.  When  a  number 
of  independent  witnesses  attest  the  same  facts,  agree- 
ing as  to  time,  place,  and  other  circumstances,  we 
are  not  readily  persuaded  that  they  intend  a  fraud. 
We  do  not,  however,  require  a  perfect  harmony.  So 
great  is  the  variety  of  disposition,  talent,  and  mode 
of  conceiving  things  among  men,  that  no  two  indi- 


SERMONS.  293 

viduals  will  give  the  same  identical  statement  of 
what  passed  before  their  eyes.  A  part  of  the  trans- 
action which  may  have  riveted  the  notice  of  the  one 
may  have  been  scarcely  perceived  by  the  other,  and 
soon  forgotten  ;  consequently,  there  not  only  may 
but  must  be  discrepancies  in  their  statements,  which 
enlightened  judges  in  the  matter  consider  so  many 
proofs  of  their  substantial  veracity.  On  the  other 
hand,  too  complete  a  harmony  is  always  suspicious  ; 
we  pronounce  it  unnatural,  and  cry  out  ''  a  con- 
spiraey  !^^ 

With  regard  to  our  writers,  —  their  general  agree- 
ment cannot  but  impress  every  candid  inquirer.  Fol- 
low them  from  chapter  to  chapter  in  their  thrilling 
story  of  our  Redeemer's  life  and  death ;  compare 
their  accounts  of  the  miracles  he  wrought  ;  his 
sublime  discourses  ;  his  instructive,  and  delightful 
parables ;  his  stern  reproofs,  and  awful  predictions ; 
—  you  find  their  harmony  as  surprising,  as  it  must 
be  satisfying,  to  a  mind  earnest  in  search  of  truth. 
There  are  apparent  exceptions,  doubtless.  Nay,  we 
grant  that  some  of  their  disagreements  have  hitherto 
resisted  every  attempt  at  solution.  But  is  it  not  cer- 
tain, then,  that  they  were  not  in  concert?  Had  they 
purposed  to  deceive,  would  they  not  most  studiously 
have  endeavored  to  keep  clear  of  all  collision  or  dis- 
tant appearance  of  contradiction  ?  How  different 
their  actual  policy,  if  policy  that  may  be  called  which 
is  no  policy,  but  the  plain,  straightforward  course  of  an 
ingenuous  mind.  Whether  they  had  seen  each  other's 
narratives  is  a  question  debated  by  the  learned ;  but, 
in  whatever  way  we  decide  it,  none  will  assert  that 

25* 


294  SERMONS. 

they  made  an  improper  use  of  them.  Each  pursues 
his  own  track ;  each  relates  what  he  personally  saw, 
or  thoroughly  knew  from  other  sources,  without 
troubling  himself  to  ask  whether  there  was  another 
writer  on  the  same  subject  in  existence.  What  a 
beautiful  proof  of  the  high,  unbending  integrity  of 
these  men  of  God  ! 

Another  feature  is  their  extraordinary  candor.  It 
is  a  hard  necessity,  says  the  proverb,  which  compels 
a  man  to  speak  ill  of  himself.  Even  where  one  has 
a  strong  disposition  to  be  honest,  and  tell  a  plain, 
unvarnished  tale,  he  must  have  an  uncommon  strength 
of  character  to  maintain  his  purpose  when  stared  in 
the  face  by  personal  humiliation.  History  can  furnish 
a  very  small  number  of  examples  where  all  selfish 
regards  have  been  completely  merged  in  the  love  of 
truth.  But  some  it  does  furnish,  and  the  brightest 
of  them  is  that  of  our  excellent  writers.  They  take 
not  the  least  pains  in  the  world  to  conceal  circum- 
stances which  might  expose  their  Master  and  them- 
selves to  contempt ;  nor  even  try  to  color  them.  As 
to  their  Master,  they  tell  us  he  was  born  in  a  filthy 
caravansera,  the  citizen  of  a  town  so  infamous  that 
it  became  a  Jewish  proverb,  —  "  Can  any  good  thing 
come  out  of  Nazareth  ? "  He  lived  in  extreme  in- 
digence, was  despised  by  the  literati  and  his  own 
kinsfolk,  condemned  at  last  as  a  vile  malefactor,  and 
joined  with  robbers  and  murderers  in  his  death.  Nor 
did  he,  in  meeting  his  fate,  display  that  boiling  cour- 
age so  much  admired  and  always  expected  in  the 
world's  heroes.  He  was  exceedingly  afraid  of  his 
approaching  sufferings,  and  his  agony  broke  forth  in 


S£:e3I0ns.  295 

a  sweat,  "  as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood."  All  this 
they  tell,  though  they  knew  that  such  a  life,  termi- 
nated by  such  a  death,  must  be  to  the  Jews  a  stum- 
blingblock,  and  to  the  Greeks  foolishness.  As  to 
themselves,  they  own  they  were  bred  to  the  lowest 
occupations,  —  one  of  them  being  an  infamous  tax- 
gatherer,  the  others  fishermen.  Freely  they  confess 
their  stupidity,  their  worldly  ambition,  their  almost 
incredible  unbelief  in  the  midst  of  miracles,  their 
shocking  cowardice  in  forsaking  him  during  his  last 
trial.  On  one  occasion,  two  of  them  are  described 
as  engaging  in  an  idle  dispute,  fomented  by  their 
mother,  which  should  be  prime  minister  in  his  king- 
dom. On  another,  they  are  thrown  into  frightful 
despair  by  a  storm,  while  he  was  in  the  midst  of 
them.  On  another,  with  strange  bigotry  and  fe- 
rocity, they  ask  him  to  do  them  the  favor  of  calling 
down  fire  from  heaven  on  a  whole  village  of  Samari- 
tans. During  his  awful  agonies  in  Gethsemane,  they 
confess  that,  instead  of  cheering  him  with  their  lov- 
ing sympathy,  they  ''fell  asleep.''^  Nor  do  they  con- 
ceal that  a  short  half-hour  before  his  betrayal  his 
holy  soul  was  wounded  by  a  strife  that  arose  among 
them,  who  should  be  greatest.  Can  we  suspect  that 
men  so  ingenuous  in  confessing  their  misconduct,  so 
ample  in  particulars  which  disgraced  both  them  and 
their  cause,  were  sporting  fables  ?  Such  is  not  the 
stuff  which  fabulists  employ. 

Another  fine  characteristic  of  truth  is  the  charm- 
ing simplicity  of  their  narrative.  Everything  is  plain, 
easy,  unforced.  In  reading  them,  we  seem  to  be 
reading  a  story  taken  down  from  the  lips  of  some 


296  SERMONS. 

lovely  children,  describing  to  their  mates  something 
which  they  had  just  been  witnessing.  With  what 
simplicity  do  they  begin  their  accounts  !  The  reader's 
mind  is  not  warmed  up  for  receiving  favorable  im- 
pressions by  pompous  exordiums,  or  elaborate  essays 
on  the  great  importance  of  the  subject.  Like  plain 
people,  who  have  no  other  business  but  to  st^te  facts, 
they  enter  on  it  immediately ;  and  when  the  business 
is  done  they  are  done  also.  When  miracles  are  de- 
scribed, it  is  in  few  words.  No  previous  expectation 
is  excited ;  no  rhetorical  exclamations  nttered  on  the 
grandeur  of  the  achievement,  or  the  majesty  of  the 
performer.  Remark,  also,  that  they  are  by  no  means 
fond  of  multiplying  them,  though  they  had  am- 
•ple  opportunity.  Jesus  lived  thirty- three  years  on 
the  earth,  while  his  public  ministry  was  limited  to 
two  or  three.  Why  did  they  not  fill  up  the  previous 
thirty  with  magnificent  exhibitions  of  his  wonder- 
working power?  Why  do  we  not  find  in  our  gos- 
pels, as  in  the  apocryphal  writings,  forged  a  century 
after,  marvellous  accounts  of  the  prodigies  wrought 
by  the  infant  Jesus  and  his  mother  Mary  ?  Had  they 
been  men  of  art,  they  would  not  have  left  to  the 
imagination  so  long  a  blank  in  the  life  of  their 
Divine  Master.  But  as  the  honest  souls  knew  noth- 
ing on  the  subject,  they  chose  to  say  nothing. 

Another  pleasing  feature  is  the  absence  of  all  at- 
tempts (as  with  John,  in  the  text)  to  give  rational 
expositions  of  their  statements.  So  perfectly  do 
they  seem  to  know  their  truth,  that  the  question 
whether  any  part  needs  the  bolstering  of  a  few  re- 
flections in  order  to  make  them  probable,  never  sug- 


SERMONS.  297 

gcsts  itself.  In  consequence,  there  are  some  things 
in  their  story  that  appear  strange,  which  we  are 
apt  to  wonder  they  did  not  elucidate.  Is  it  not 
strange,  for  example,  that  Judas  should  have  so  long 
continued  with  the  Saviour,  a  witness  to  his  miracles 
and  teachings,  and  prove  in  the  issue  a  traitor  ?  We 
are  told  that  the  people  continued  to  disbelieve,  even 
after  they  had  seen  diseases  healed  by  a  word,  and,  as 
in  the  case  of  Lazarus,  the  coffined  dead  rise  from  their 
graves.  We  almost  involuntarily  ask,  whether  this 
is  possible  ?  It  appears  that  he  ate  his  last  passover 
with  the  disciples  a  whole  day  before  the  appointed 
time.  In  these  cases,  they  might  easily  have  smoothed 
the  asperities  of  their  narrative  by  explanatory  com- 
ments. But  they  felt  that  writing  comments  was  not 
their  mission.  The  incidents  described  might  ap- 
pear improbable,  but  they  knew  their  truth,  and  that 
their  whole  work  was  to  "testify  what  they  did 
know." 

Their  style,  also,  richly  merits  notice.  It  was  the 
remark  of  a  distinguished  French  scliolar,  that,  if 
ever  Truth  should  make  herself  visible,  and  hold 
conversation  with  men,  she  would  employ  the  lan- 
guage of  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament.  No 
man  of  taste  will  think  the  sentiment  exaggerated. 
It  is  characterized  throughout  by  so  sweet  and  almost 
infantile  artlessness ;  is  so  pure,  transparent,  and 
unstudied,  that  we  would  be  as  much  surprised  to  find 
a  lie  concealed  in  it  as  were  the  guardian-angels  of 
our  first  parents  at  detecting  Satan  in  the  bowers 
of  Eden.  The  ear  is  not  seduced,  by  tlie  melody  of 
finely  balanced  periods,  to  lend  her  influence  in  bias- 


298  SEEM  ON S. 

ing  the  judgment.  No  turgid  metaphors  captivate 
the  imagination  ;  nay,  there  is  not  in  the  whole  four 
Gospels  one  pompous  or  shining  expression.  All  is 
pure,  unadorned,  lovely  nature.  Thank  God,  Chris- 
tians, that,  if  you  have  been  deceived  in  your  book, 
you  have  been  well  deceived.  I  would  rather  receive 
the  falsehoods  of  such  men  than  many  other  men's 
truths. 

But  I  must  hasten  to  the  crowning  thought,  —  a 
thought  which,  in  the  judgment  of  every  enlightened 
and  good  man,  must  put  the  question  before  us  at 
rest  forever.  It  is  the  character  which  the  writers  set 
before  us  of  our  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ. 

With  a  few  reflections  on  this  topic,  which  will 
come  infinitely  short,  however,  of  doing  it  justice, 
we  shall  conclude  our  discourse. 

When  I  open  the  New  Testament  to  examine  its 
varied  contents,  I  meet  a  phenomenon,  more  wonder- 
ful than  all  its  miracles  united,  in  the  picture  which  it 
gives  of  a  perfect  moral  being.  I  take  up  this  being, 
at  the  commencement  of  his  existence,  and  make 
him  my  study.  I  follow  him  through  the  whole  of 
his  eventful  career,  step  by  step ;  treasuring  up  every 
word,  analyzing  every  action  and  thought,  with  all 
the  severity  of  philosophical  scepticism.  I  enter  with 
him  into  every  company,  and  mark  his  deportment  to 
friends  and  enemies ;  to  the  wise  and  foolish ;  in 
prosperity  and  adversity ;  in  honor  and  dishonor. 
I  sit  with  him  in  the  house  of  the  despised  publican ; 
on  the  well-stone,  while  he  unfolds  to  a  Samaritan 
woman  all   (to  use  her  own   expressive  language) 


SEEMONS.  299 

that  ever  she  did ;  and  in  the  temple,  while  he  con- 
founds the  Jewish  doctors.  I  sail  with  him  on  the 
Sea  of  Tiberias,  and  ascend  with  him  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  I  follow  in  his  train  when  he  rides  in 
triumph  through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  and  join 
the  little  band  with  whom  he  ate  his  last  supper. 
I  accompany  him  to  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  and 
the  judgment-seat  of  Pilate.  I  attend  him  with  tlie 
beloved  disciple  to  the  cross,  —  stand  under  it,  and 
hear  his  expiring  groans. 

After  all  this  intimate  companionship ;  this  pursu- 
ing him  like  his  shadow  wherever  he  goes ;  this  con- 
stant inspection  of  every  movement,  every  utterance, 
every  look,  I  sit  down  and  calmly  ask, —  What  is 
the  impression  he  produces  on  my  mind  ?  Does 
he  realize  all  my  imagination  can  conceive,  when 
it  strains  its  powers  to  form  a  notion  of  the  being 
whom  God  would  send  into  the  world  as  the  incar- 
nated image  of  himself,  if  he  purposed  to  bestow  such 
a  favor  ?  My  answer  is,  he  does,  he  does.  His  ex- 
cellence is  complete.  I  cannot,  under  the  intensest 
actings  of  the  conceptive  faculty,  alter,  without  de- 
facing, a  single  feature  in  the  bright  character  he 
exhibited.  I  can  add  nothing  to  the  wisdom  of  his 
discourses,  the  affecting  grace  and  sweetness  of  his 
manner,  and  the  lustre  of  his  virtue.  I  can  do  noth- 
ing but  fall  on  my  knees,  and  exclaim  witli  the  cen- 
turion, "  Surely  this  man  was  the  Son  of  God." 
In  love  and  charity  to  men,  he  stands  alo7ie.  His 
whole  thought  was  the  communication  of  happiness, 
and  there  is  not  an  action  of  his  life  in  which  private 
ease  or  honor  was  the  olject  of  pursuit.      He  existed 


300  SERMONS. 

but  for  others.  Sometimes  we  read  of  his  weeping, 
but  never  over  his  own  unmerited  sorrows;  some- 
times, of  his  rejoicing ;  but  never  over  a  favorable 
change  in  his  own  fortunes.  He  wept  for  the  unbe- 
lief and  perversity  of  men ;  he  rejoiced  on  such  oc- 
casions as  that,  when  hearing  of  the  success  of  his 
gospel,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  thank  thee,  0  Father,  Lord 
of  heaven  and  earth,  that  thou  hast  hid  these  things 
from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed  them  unto 
babes.  Even  so.  Father;  for  so  it  seemed  good  in 
thy  sight."  Sometimes,  we  hear  of  a  slight  emo- 
tion of  anger  coloring  his  pallid  cheek ;  but  it  was 
always  the  displeasure  of  love,  and  aimed  at  the 
amendment  of  its  object.  In  numberless  instances, 
he  gave  proof  that  all  power  was  committed  to  him 
in  heaven  and  in  earth ;  but  amid  all  his  cruel  provo- 
cations he  never  employed  it  for  the  punishment  of 
offenders,  —  never.  All  his  miracles  were  benevolent, 
directly  productive  of  human  happiness.  All  the 
agonies  of  the  cross  could  not  weaken  that  love, 
strong  as  death,  which  he  bore  even  to  his  murderers. 
In  those  memorable  words  uttered  just  before  his  dis- 
solution, you  have  the  whole  soul  of  Jesus.  "Father, 
forgive  them ;  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

But  we  have  not  yet  touched  the  sublimes t  feature 
of  this  remarkable  delineation.  In  outward  condi- 
tion, he  was  a  poor  Jew  of  the  lowest  rank,  the 
resident  of  a  contemptible  village.  For  such  a  one 
to  aim  at  some  obscure  distinction  among  the  Rabbis 
entitling  him  to  hold  forth  occasionally  in  a  country 
synagogue,  would  have  indicated  more  than  ordinary 
ambition.     But  his  took  a  nobler  flight.     Can  we  be- 


SER3I0NS.  301 

lieve  it  possible,  that  from  his  cradle  to  his  grave,  the 
breast  of  this  ignoble  Galilean  was  heaving  with 
a  project  which,  for  splendor,  sublimity,  and  magnifi- 
cent results,  left  behind  it,  at  an  infinite  distance,  all 
that  ever  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  ? 
ITe  determined  to  reform  the  world;  to  set  up  a  king- 
dom of  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which,  scorning  the  narrow  limits  of  his  own 
country,  of  Greece,  of  Asia,  of  the  Roman  empire, 
should  extend  over  every  nation  and  kindred,  tongue 
and  people.  He  saw  the  moral  universe  alienated 
from  its  Maker ;  lost  in  darkness  and  corruption. 
He  formed  the  purpose  to  bring  it  hack.  Unwearied, 
and  unappalled  by  difficulties,  he  silently  went  on, 
laying  the  foundation  for  its  execution,  leaving  to  his 
disciples,  when  he  departed  from  earthly  scenes,  the 
peremptory  command  :  "  Go  and  preach  my  gospel  to 
every  creature ;  go  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost ; "  "  and  lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway."  I  have  said  that  he  was  a  Jeto,  but  there 
was  nothing  Jewish  in  the  soul  that  could  devise  so 
wonderful  a  scheme  as  this ! 

Such  is  the  portrait.  Now  let  us  ask,  who  are  the 
limners  ?  From  whose  hands  do  we  receive  this 
exquisite  painting  ?  From  Plato,  or  Socrates,  —  from 
a  college  of  Greek  or  Roman  literati,  who  combined 
their  splendid  powers  to  form  a  single  picture,  which 
should  exhibit  to  the  gaze  of  an  admiring  world  the 
beau-ideal  of  human  perfection  ?  Did  it  even  origi- 
nate from  this  source,  we  would  have  cause  to 
wonder.  There  is  nothing  in  the  literature  of  classi- 
cs 


302  SERMONS. 

cal  antiquity  which  approaches  within  a  measurable 
distance  of  the  portraiture  of  Jesus.  The  character 
was  too  sublime  for  the  miserable  sophisters  of  Greece 
and  Rome  even  to  appreciate  when  set  before  them. 
How,  then,  could  they  invent  it  ? 

But  we  need  not  reason  on  this  hypothesis ;  for  we 
know  that  the  painters  were  a  few  low-born,  illiterate 
Galileans,  who  earned  their  daily  subsistence  by 
selling  fish  in  the  paltry  villages  which  bordered  on 
the  Sea  of  Gennesareth.  Was  it  in  the  power  of  such 
men  to  soar  above  the  dull  realities  of  life,  and  create 
the  most  wonderful  combination  of  moral  beauty 
that  has  ever  engaged  the  admiration  of  the  world, 
by  a  mere  effort  of  imagination  ?  The  last  thing  of 
which  persons  in  their  situation  are  capable  is  a 
happy  invention.  The  vulgar  never  abstract  and  re- 
combine  the  qualities  of  objects  that  meet  their 
senses :  they  cannot  therefore  describe,  unless  you 
place  directly  under  their  eyes,  the  scene  to  be  de- 
lineated.    They  may  be  copyists^  but  nothing  more. 

Suppose,  however,  they  feel  the  stirrings  of  am- 
bition, and  try  their  hand  at  a  fancy  sketchy  selecting 
as  their  subject  the  idea  of  a  perfect  man.  What 
kind  of  character  would  they  exhibit  ?  Do  you  not 
see,  at  once,  that  it  would  partake  of  all  the  grossness 
of  their  occupation  and  habits  ?  Set  a  Nantucket 
smackman  to  sketch  a  hero,  and  you  may  easily  guess 
the  result.  In  the  first  place,  he  will  be  a  magnifi- 
cent-looking personage,  seven  feet  high.  He  will 
have  the  voice  of  a  Stentor,  and  the  brawny  chest  of 
Hercules.  With  kindliness  of  temper  he  will  combine 
a  roughness  approacliing  to  ferocity.     He  will  have  a 


SFRAfONS.  303 

taste  for  fighting,  and  not  dislike  the  sight  of  blood. 
If  endowed  with  the  gift  of  miracles,  he  will  amuse 
himself  with  rolling  mountains  as  ninepins ;  will  be 
always  thundering  and  lightening ;  and,  in  the  rapid- 
ity of  executing  his  projects,  will  annihilate  time 
and  space.  The  whole,  in  short,  will  be  a  vile  daub, 
that  would  betray  its  authors  to  the  first  glance  of 
criticism. 

If  any  reply,  that  the  apostles  were  of  a  higher 
grade  of  intellect  than  the  persons  supposed,  we  deny 
it ;  and  are  sustained  by  their  whole  history,  as  given 
by  themselves.  Look  at  their  low  ambition ;  their 
puerile  contentions  with  each  other ;  their  stupidity, 
which  drew,  from  the  most  meek  and  patient  of 
teachers,  the  almost  querulous  exclamation,  "  How  is 
it  that  ye  do  not  understand  ?  "  Think  of  their  car- 
nal notions  of  his  kingdom,  and  that  blood-thirsty  — 
should  I  not  rather  say,  diabolical  — spirit  they  evinced 
in  calling  on  him  to  bring  fire  from  heaven  on  the 
Samaritans,  and  acknowledge  that  our  four  Gospels 
would  be  compositions  very  different  from  what  we 
find  them,  were  they  the  inventions  of  fancy.  That, 
as  portraits  of  intellectual  and  moral  loveliness,  they 
realize  our  fairest  dreams,  admits  of  but  one  solution. 
They  are  copies,  —  like  John's  blood  and  water,  — 
copies  taken  from  existing  facts ;  the  authors  had  the 
original  before  them.  There  is  the  secret !  So  Jesus 
was;  so  he  felt;  so  he  spoke  and  acted.  I  cannot 
doubt  on  this  point.  Nearly  as  soon  would  I  think 
of  doubting  iliy  own  existence. 

We  have  dwelt  so  long  on  the  subject  that  no  time 
remains  for  a  regular  application.    We  conclude  with 


304  SERMONS. 

exhorting  you  to  thank  God  for  the  precious  and 
faithful  record  he  has  put  into  your  hands.  He 
might  have  addressed  you  differently.  He  might 
have  spoken  in  thunder ;  have  written  his  will  with  a 
pen  of  fire  in  the  sky ;  have  sent  to  you  Gabriel  from 
his  cherubic  throne.  But  is  it  not  far  more  delight- 
ful and  satisfactory  to  hear  the  familiar  voice  of  those 
who  share  in  our  common  nature  ?  What  condescen- 
sion on  the  part  of  our  Divine  Parent !  First,  he 
sends  his  Son,  who,  before  announcing  his  revelations, 
becomes  a  man;  and  when  he  ascended  to  his 
Father's  house,  left  the  completion  of  his  worh  to  men; 
as  if  man,  being  the  object  of  grace,  humanity  should 
impress  its  stamp  on  every  stone  of  the  great  building 
of  mercy.  Cultivate  an  acquaintance  with  these 
earthly  vessels  in  which  are  laid  up  heavenly  treas- 
ures. There  is  nothing  to  terrify  you  in  their 
aspect.  If  an  angel  were  the  messenger,  the  ques- 
tion would  sadly  perplex,  what  degree  of  credit 
should  be  given  to  the  strange  apparition,  and  on 
what  principles  of  evidence  a  case  so  novel  should  be 
decided.  But  here  you  converse  with  your  brethren, 
bone  of  your  bone,  and  flesh  of  your  flesh  ;  whom 
you  understand ;  in  whom  you  can  confide ;  precisely 
as  you  trust  in  parent,  wife,  and  familiar  friends ; 
and,  believe  me,  the  more  you  read  them  without 
preoccupation,  simply  regarding  their  human  cred- 
ibility, the  more  you  will  be  strengthened  in  your 
Christian  faith,  —  in  the  belief  of  those  glorious  facts 
on  which  rest  your  eternal  hopes.  Happy  are  they, 
who  study  their  religion,  —  not  in  formulas ;  not  in 
bristling  theological  propositions ;   not  in  the  contro- 


SEEMONS.  305 

versial  writings  of  divines,  nor  even  in  the  weekly 
sermons  of  their  preachers  ;  but  in  the  pure,  gushing, 
translucent  fountain,  —  the  holy  gospels  and  acts  of 
the  apostles.  Their  life-giving  truths  will  steal  into 
the  heart  with  a  gentle  force  that  cannot  be  resisted ; 
there  will  be  a  reflection  on  the  soul  of  their  own 
simple,  inimitable  beauty  ;  and,  beholding  in  them,  as 
in  an  unsullied  mirror,  the  glory  of  Jesus,  you  will 
be  changed  into  the  same  image,  from  glory  to  glory. 

26* 


The  Price  of  otjr  Redemption. 


XIV. 

THE    PRICE   OF   OUR    REDEMPTION. 


1  Cor.  6  :  20.     Jor  jjb  arc  bought  ^\i\  a  pria. 


N  these  words  the  apostle  calls  our  attention  to 
the  fundamental  doctrine  of  Christianity,  on 
which  he  delighted  to  expatiate  with  the 
earnestness  of  one  who  felt  that  his  eternal 
hope  was  embarked  in  it.  On  this  doctrine  we  pro- 
pose offering  a  few  remarks,  and  shall  attempt  to 
show  that  he  does  not  overrate  its  value  :  "  Ye  are 
bought  with  a  price."  Evidently  a  previous  servi- 
tude is  here  implied.  The  natural  state  of  men  is  a 
dreadful  state,  and  may  be  compared  to  that  of  one 
reduced  by  his  crimes  to  a  miserable  slavery.  We 
are  under  the  high  displeasure  of  Him  who  made  us  ; 
consequently  strangers  to  true  happiness  in  the  pres- 
ent world,  and  exposed  to  unknown  evils  in  the  next. 
From  this  state  Christians  are  delivered,  —  are  rein- 
stated in  the  lost  favor  of  their  God,  and  look  for- 
ward, with  joyful  hope,  to  a  heavenly  felicity.  This 
complete  reversal  of  a  penal  sentence  which  had 
been  solemnly  pronounced,  our  text  informs  us,  was 
not,  and,  in  the  nature  of  things,  could  not  be  an 
arbitrary  or  purely  gratuitous  act  on  the  part  of  God. 
There   were    considerations    of   infinite   importance 


310-  SEHMONS. 

which  rendered  the  strict  execution  of  the  penalty  of 
law  absolutely  necessary.  Previously,  therefore,  to 
the  reversal,  these  considerations  were  to  be  fairly 
met  and  satisfied.  This  has  been  done  by  the  suffer- 
ings and  death  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  constitute, 
therefore,  the  price  or  equivalent  of  our  redemption, 
as  they  render  to  God,  in  his  judicial  capacity,  all  that 
would  have  been  gained  by  the  rigid  execution  of  the 
sentence  of  law.  To  express  the  thought  in  other 
words :  the  death  of  the  Son  of  God  has,  by  answer- 
ing the  designs  of  punishment,  caused  the  necessity 
of  it  to  cease,  producing  so  happy  a  state  of  things, 
in  relation  to  the  believer,  that  it  has  become  right, 
proper,  accordant  with  every  principle  of  good  gov- 
ernment, to  rescue  him  from  his  wretchedness,  and 
restore  him  to  the  original  honors  of  his  race.  This 
is  the  great  truth  we  intend  to  illustrate. 

First,  then,  let  us  inquire  what  those  important 
considerations  are  which  rendered  it  unsuitable  to 
save  the  transgressor  by  a  mere  gratuitous  act  of 
mercy. 

Secondly,  let  us  mark,  with  pious  thankfulness, 
the  complete  removal  of  these  considerations  by  the 
equivalent  rendered  in  the  sufferings  and  death  of 
the  Son  of  God.  Thus  shall  we  understand  with 
what  meaning  and  emphasis  the  apostle  declares, 
"  Ye  are  bought  with  a  price." 

When  we  say  that  there  are  powerful  reasons  why 
the  Deity  should  not  gratuitously  forgive  the  sinner, 
we  do  not  affirm  that  under  no  circumstances  is  it 
possible  for  him  so  to  exercise  his  clemency.  This 
view  has  been  taken.     But,  I  confess,  I  cannot  join 


SERMONS.  311 

in  the  hardy  sentiment.  Why  may  not  the  uni- 
versal Monarch  do,  occasionally  and  in  certain  con- 
junctures, what  is  done  by  the  meanest  earthly  poten- 
tate, —  say  to  a  poor  trembling  child  of  guilt,  without 
the  formality  of  a  previous  atonement,  "  Be  of  good 
cheer,  thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee." 

But  while  we  cheerfully  yield  thus  much,  —  more 
from  courtesy  than  because  we  know  the  fact,  —  we 
must  protest  against  the  strange  notion  of  those  who, 
erecting  the  rare  and  only  possible  exception  into  the 
general  rule  (the  most  absurd  of  all  sophistries), 
contend  that  the  pardoning  prerogative  must  be  tiius 
exercised  in  all  cases  whatever.  It  is,  indeed,  sur- 
prising that  a  doctrine  which,  if  practised  among 
the  communities  of  men  on  the  earth,  would  bring 
them  to  an  end  in  one  generation,  should  be  thought 
a  highly  reasonable  maxim  of  government  for  the 
great  universal  Legislator.  The  guardians  of  hu- 
man law,  it  is  confessed,  must  punish  for  the  sake  of 
moral  influence.  If  the  belief  was  allowed  to  prevail 
that  laws  were  mere  monitions.,  —  that  there  was  no 
serious  intention  to  punish  disobedience,  —  the  flood- 
gates of  crime  would  be  opened  at  once,  and  an 
overwhelming  torrent  of  licentiousness  would  roll 
over  the  land.  None  would  be  safe  but  in  bidding 
the  world  good-night,  and  flying  from  all  communion 
with  his  species.  Our  planet  would  be  a  hell,  and  its 
inhabitants  fiends  ! 

All  this  is  plain,  and  is  not  denied  by  them ;  yet, 
at  tiie  same  time,  they  indulge  the  whimsical  conceit 
that  the  like  necessity  of  punishing  does  not  exist  in 
the  government  of  God.     The  train  of  thought  which 


312  SERMONS. 

leads  them  to  this  is,  perhaps,  something  like  the  fol- 
lowing :  The  civil  magistrate,  they  say,  must  punish 
because  he  has  no  other  method  of  influencing  the 
conduct  of  his  subjects  except  by  awakening  their 
fears.  Punishment,  however  it  may  carry  the  ap- 
pearance of  superior  power,  is  truly  the  consequence 
of  his  weakness,  his  utter  inability  to  control  the 
internal  principles  of  action,  —  the  hidden  spring 
within.  But  the  all-pervading  influences  of  God  can 
reach  the  heart.  The  Author  of  our  spirits  is  under 
no  necessity  of  providing  an  array  of  outward  motive 
to  operate  on  a  will,  all  whose  movements  he  can, 
at  any  time  and  all  times,  direct  by  secret  agency. 
Now,  I  ask,  what  is  the  real  import  of  this  language, 
but  that  man  is  devoid  of  moral  responsibility?  God, 
it  seems,  can  effect  his  purposes  in  him  by  immediate 
agency.  He  can  go  into  him,  —  make  him  virtuous 
without  motive,  and  against  it.  It  follows,  that  the 
sins  of  men  being  the  effect  of  his  refusing  to  act, 
when,  by  acting,  he  could  have  prevented  them,  are 
not  the  proper  objects  of  punishment  or  even  serious 
blame  I  However  earnestly  those  we  are  opposing 
may  disavow  these  principles,  they  are  the  corner- 
stone of  the  whole  scheme  of  unconditional  forgive- 
ness. 

But  they  are  false.  The  common  sense  of  man- 
kind declares  them  to  be  so,  and  pronounces  that  any 
other  scheme  of  God's  governing  rational  and  free 
agents  than  addressing  them  by  moral  inducements, 
leaving  the  issue  to  their  own  unbiased  choice,  would 
be  a  monstrous  absurdity  !  The  Creator,  it  is  true, 
was  under  no  obligation  to  make  us  free.     Our  lib- 


SERMONS.  313 

erty  is  the  gift  of  his  sovereign  goodness.  But  this 
constitution  being  supposed,  the  eternal  laws  of  truth 
demanded  that  he  should  respect  the  work  of  his 
own  hands,  and  the  moral  nature  he  had  bestowed 
upon  us.  Look  at  facts.  When  he  placed  our 
first  parents  in  Paradise  did  he  think  of  controlling 
their  will  by  secret  agency  ?  So  far  from  it  he,  with 
a  full  view  of  the  lamentable  result,  placed  them  within 
sight  of  the  fatal  tree.  How  strikingly  was  the  same 
principle  exemplified  in  his  treatment  of  ancient 
Israel !  It  was  wonderful.  The  expressions  of  his 
desire  for  their  continuance  in  obedience  are  so  em- 
phatic that  we,  in  our  ignorance  and  narrowness  of 
conception,  are  amazed  at  his  not  securing  it  by  any 
degree  of  violence  necessary  to  the  end.  But  the 
laws  of  his  administration  must  not  be  sacrificed ; 
and  he  contents  himself  with  giving  this  solemn 
warning  :  "  Behold,  I  set  before  you  a  blessing  and  a 
curse ;  a  blessing  if  ye  obey  the  command  of  the 
Lord  your  God,  a  curse  if  ye  will  not."  And  how 
did  he  put  honor  on  his  beloved  Son  when  he  ap- 
peared on  the  earth  ?  That,  on  different  occasions, 
the  laws  of  material  nature  were  suspended  ;  that  a 
virgin  conceived  and  brought  forth  a  son  ;  that  a  star 
was  lighted  up  to  direct  the  steps  of  inquiring  sages 
to  the  stable  in  Bethlehem ;  that,  during  his  whole  ca- 
reer, he  stood  confessed  to  be  creation's  Lord,  by  the 
ready  obedience  she  paid  to  his  commands,  —  all  this 
I  know.  But  I  know,  too,  that  even  at  this  memora- 
ble era,  the  will  of  man,  enshrined  in  its  high  sanc- 
tuary, maintained  all  her  rights ;  and  He  who 
rebuked  the  winds  and  waves,  reverenced  the  laws 

27 


814  SERMONS. 

of  our  moral  constitution.  Witness  that  pathetic 
address :  "  0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem !  how  often 
would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  as  a 
hen  doth  gather  her  brood  under  her  wings,  and 
ye  would  not." 

Let  us,  then,  fix  deeply  in  our  minds,  as  a  truth  not 
to  be  controverted,  that  we  enjoy  the  noble  preemi- 
nence of  being  subject  to  a  government  of  choice ; 
that  there  is  a  something  within  us  divine^  which  must 
not  be  coerced ;  nay,  more,  that  our  great  Ruler  acts 
honorably  toward  us  in  making  this  distinction  the 
basis  of  his  whole  system  of  moral  discipline.  Is  it 
asked,  what  he  hath  done  for  us,  seeing  we  have  re- 
moved the  supposition  of  violence  on  the  will  ?  I 
reply,  that  he  has  fenced  the  path  of  obedience  by  the 
most  awful  penalties.  This  was  not  an  arbitrary 
arrangement.  Having  made  us  free,  and  determined 
to  treat  us  as  such,  he  was  bound  to  provide  such  a 
quantity  of  inducement  to  virtue  as  would  afford  a 
rational  security  against  transgression.  Nay,  I  go  fur- 
ther and  aver  that,  as  the  great  Conservator  of  gen- 
eral happiness,  he  was  bound  to  provide  the  strongest 
possible  motive  against  sin.  To  say  that  a  lesser  in- 
ducement was  offered  than  the  strongest  possible,  is 
to  say  that  a  less  security  was  provided  than  the  case 
admitted  ;  and  would  not  every  delinquent,  detected 
and  confronted  by  his  judge,  be  able,  under  such 
circumstances,  to  address  the  Holy  One  thus :  "  I 
complain  not  that  thou  didst  refuse  to  stop  me  in  my 
headlong  course,  by  doing  violence  to  my  moral  na- 
ture ;  but  why  didst  thou  neglect  offering  such 
cogent  persuasives  as  would   have   proved   thy  full 


SERMONS.  315 

determination  to  maintain  the  honor  of  thy  law  ? 
Thou  mightst  have  denounced  on  sin  thy  burning 
wrath.  Why  didst  thou  not  ?  Then  I  would  have 
viewed  it  with  other  eyes  ;  I  would  have  seen  that 
thou  art  in  earnest  in  prohibiting  it,  and  who  can  tell 
whether  I  might  not  at  this  moment  be  pure  as  the 
seraph  who  stands  before  thy  throne  ?  I  deny  thy 
right,  God,  to  complain  of  a  rebellion  to  which  the 
temptation  was  held  out  of  impunity  in  crime." 

There  is  a  reflection  on  this  subject,  to  which  I 
have  alluded,  but  which  deserves  more  formal  notice. 
The  empire  of  Grod  is  one.  And  this  holds  true,  we 
have  reason  to  think,  of  the  physical  universe.  Im- 
mense as  are  the  distances  between  those  mighty  orbs 
which  revolve  in  mystic  dance  with  our  earth  around 
the  sun,  they  are  truly  but  parts  of  one  magnificent 
system,  in  which,  by  a  reciprocal  balancing  and  attrac- 
tion, each  becomes  subservient  to  the  well-being  of  all 
the  rest.  The  bold  language  of  the  poet  is  thought 
to  be  philosophically  true  : 

"  From  nature's  chain,  whatever  link  you  strike, 
Tenth  or  tenth  thousand,  breaks  the  chain  ahke. 
Let  earth  unbalanced  from  her  orbit  fly,  — 
Planets  and  suns  rush  lawless  through  the  sky." 

Whether  this  be  so  is  conjectural ;  but  that  such  a 
mutual  influence  prevails  in  the  universe  of  mind, 
that  from  the  noblest  archangel  down  through  all  in- 
termediate classes  of  rational  beings  to  the  meanest 
child  of  Adam,  there  is  a  "  chain  of  strong  connec- 
tion and  nice  dependency,"  is  not  conjecture,  but 
one  of  tliose  sublime  truths  communicated  to  us  by 
divine  revelation.     We  are  told  that  the  chariots  of 


316  SERMONS. 

God  are  twenty  thousand,  yea,  thousands  of  angels, 
all  of  whom  are  perfectly  acquainted  with  man,  and 
take  the  deepest  interest  in  the  plan  devised  for  his 
salvation.  They  desire  to  look  into  its  mysteries, 
and  their  instruction  is  represented  to  be  one  of  the 
principal  objects  contemplated  by  its  glorious  Author. 
"  To  the  intent  that  now  unto  the  principalities  and 
powers  in  heavenly  places  might  be  known  by  the 
church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God."  I  call  up 
this  fact  to  impress  upon  you  the  deeply  interesting 
truth,  that,  though  you  may  think  yourselves  a  very 
inconsiderable  part  of  God's  moral  dominion,  a 
mere  molecule  or  atom,  there  is  yet  such  connec- 
tion with  every  other  part  and  every  other  atom,  that 
your  example  may  be  of  mighty  efficacy  throughout 
the  whole  system.  It  is  natural  to  believe  that 
when  the  apostasy  took  place,  worlds  of  free  agents 
like  ourselves  waited  in  anxious  suspense  to  see  what 
would  be  done  by  the  insulted  Lawgiver.  Had  he  in- 
stantly pronounced  an  unconditional  pardon,  who 
will  venture  to  predict  the  consequences  ?  Some 
idea  of  the  consequences  may  be  formed  by  consider- 
ing what  led  to  this  very  apostasy.  Our  first  parents 
yielded  to  the  seductions  of  a  being  who  presented 
himself  to  them  in  the  character  of  an  unpunished 
transgressor!  He  had  eaten  of  the  forbidden  tree, 
with  benefit  instead  of  harm  :  from  which  they  in- 
ferred that  the  Deity  wanted  either  will  or  power  to 
execute  his  threat,  —  probably  both,  —  and  thus  were 
they  ruined  by  the  very  expectation  of  escape.  If 
previously  they  had  known  that  a  band  of  rebellious 
spirits  had  fallen  from  the  battlements  of  heaven  to 


SERMONS.  317 

writhe  in  eternal  pain,  might  they  not  have  come  tri- 
umphant from  the  conflict,  —  might  they  not  ?  But 
pardon,  0  God,  the  presumption  of  thy  creature. 

There  were  doubtless  good  reasons  for  leaving 
our  first  parents  ignorant  of  so  terrific  a  lesson  ;  and 
their  resources  of  resistance  were,  without  it,  am- 
ply sufficient,  as  they  had  the  express  declaration 
of  Him  who  cannot  lie,  that  death  is  the  wages  of 
sin. 

I  have  thus  endeavored  to  show  you,  from  the  very 
nature  of  moral  government,  that  the  forgiveness  of 
sinners  is  a  work  of  serious  difficulty ;  nay,  that  there 
are  considerations  rendering  it  nearly,  if  not  abso- 
lutely, impossible.  Far  from  us  be  the  thought,  with 
which  we  are  sometimes  charged,  of  imputing  to  God 
the  temper  of  a  vindictive  despot.  We  believe  that 
he  is  infinitely  benevolent,  a  fathomless  ocean  of 
goodness.  But,  at  the  same  time,  we  shall  not  allow 
ourselves  to  forget  that  it  is  a  goodness  worthy  of 
him,  and  exercised  in  perfect  harmony  with  every 
other  attribute  in  his  nature.  It  is  wise,  holy,  enlight- 
ened goodness,  —  takes  extended  views  of  things,  and 
will  never  sacrifice  to  any  partial  regards  the  cause 
of  universal  happiness.  Let  our  rationalists,  as  they 
call  themselves,  combat  these  ideas  with  as  much 
earnestness  as  they  permit  themselves  to  feel  on  any 
religious  theme,  —  the  common  apprehensions  of 
mankind  are  against  them.  A  feeling  of  misery  and 
sad  foreboding  of  being  under  the  displeasure  of  a 
powerful  and  inexorable  avenger,  is  as  congenial  to 
the  human  mind  as  the  sense  of  religion  itself. 
Wherever  we  go,  in  lands  unblest  with  gospel  light, 


318  SERMONS. 

we  discover  altars  smoking  with  blood,  dark  and 
sepulchral  temples,  rites  of  awful  import,  pallid  and 
fear-stricken  worshippers.     Why  is  this  ? 

It  is  easy,  indeed,  to  reply  that  these  are  the  com- 
mon effects  of  superstition,  whose  characteristic  it  is 
to  inspire  false  and  groundless  terrors.  But,  I  ask, 
why  is  this  ?  Why  does  superstition  so  uniformly 
clothe  herself  in  blackness,  and  speak  in  thunder  ; 
so  rarely  present  an  object  of  worship  divested  of  ter- 
rible attributes,  that  in  the  whole  history  of  the  world 
we  scarce  find  an  instance  of  a  false  religion  which 
inspired  its  votary  with  courage  or  consolation  ? 
Why,  even  in  Christian  lands,  are  those  gloomy  repre- 
sentations we  are  not  afraid  of  advocating,  so  exten- 
sively popular,  that,  in  many  places,  their  opponents 
cannot  make  their  voice  to  be  heard  when  they  ask 
to  be  recognized  as  a  sect  ?  They  are  not  wanting  in 
zeal  for  propagating,  what  they  consider,  more  pleas- 
ing views  of  the  divine  administration  ;  they  build 
churches,  they  send  from  the  press  eloquent  appeals 
inviting  their  fellow-men  to  join  them  in  the  delight- 
ful contemplation  of  a  Being  all-merciful,  who  knows 
not  how  to  punish.  Yet  they  are  hardly  listened  to  ; 
their  splendid  temples  are  passed  by,  and  the  multi- 
tude, of  both  wise  and  foolish,  are  seen  thronging  ta 
those  conventicles  where  it  is  not  scrupled  to  be  said 
that  "  a  God  all  mercy  is  a  God  unjust,"  and  the 
flaming  sword  of  penal  retribution  is  unceasingly 
brandished  in  the  sinner's  face.  Many,  even,  who 
strongly  dislike  our  doctrine,  pay  its  teacher  the 
compliment  of  sitting  beneath  his  instructions,  — 
turning    away   from    the    honeyed   rhetoric    of  the 


SERMONS.  319 

very  men  with  whom  they  profess  community  of 
sentiment,  as  if  they  were  listening  to  that  glozing 
tale  which  betrayed  our  first  progenitors  to  ruin  : 
"  Hath  God  said,  '  Ye  shall  surely  die  ?  '  Ye  shall 
not  surely  die  !  "  Ah !  There  is  a  deep  inborn  sense 
of  right,  in  every  human  bosom,  which  approves  our 
statements.  There  is  a  tribunal,  in  the  man  himself, 
to  which  we  carry  our  appeal,  and  before  which  we 
urge  with  victorious  energy  that  the  righteous  Judge 
must  vindicate  his  insulted  laws,  though  a  world 
perish  !  This  conviction  it  is  which  gives  the  evan- 
gelical ministry  all  their  power  over  you.  You  may 
dislike  the  men,  and  find  fault  with  many  of  their 
representations.  You  may  complain  of  their  scho- 
lastic phraseology,  contracted  views,  and  neglect  of 
those  winning  arts,  which,  without  detracting  from 
the  fidelity  of  their  instructions,  would  render  them 
tenfold  more  persuasive.  Yet,  with  all  their  defects, 
they  touch  a  chord  which  seldom  fails  to  vibrate. 
Their  voice,  though  harsh  and  dissonant  its  tones,  is 
echoed  by  a  voice  from  the  bottom  of  your  hearts, 
and  you  tremble  at  the  difficulties  of  your  salvation. 

We  now  proceed  to  consider  the  manner  in  which 
these  difficulties  have  been  overcome  by  the  suffer- 
ings and  death  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  not  my  design 
at  present  to  describe  these  sufferings.  You  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  history,  and  know  that  a  more  dis- 
mal tragedy  was  never  acted  on  the  world's  surface. 
The  wildest  imagination  cannot  paint  deeper  agonies 
than  those  undergone  by  this  immaculate  and  Divine 
Personage.  We  gaze  at  the  Heaven-deserted  victim, 
hanging  convulsed  on  the  cursed  tree,  scarcely  know- 


320  SERMONS. 

iiig  what  to  think  of  the  government  of  God,  which 
permits  such  a  shocking  catastrophe.  But  our  per- 
plexity instantly  ceases  when  we  learn  the  true  char- 
acter of  this  amazing  transaction.  "  He  was  wound- 
ed for  our  transgressions,  and  bruised  for  our  ini- 
quities ! " 

If  asked  how  the  death  of  Christ  produces  the 
effect  we  ascribe  to  it,  of  removing  the  obstacles  to 
our  salvation,  I  answer,  that,  however  unable  to 
fathom  the  depths  of  this  mystery,  I  yet  find  no  diffi- 
culty in  understanding  that  it  is  a  complete  answer 
to  the  reasons,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  placed  the 
great  Ruler  under  the  necessity  of  punishing.  I 
think  I  see,  with  perfect  clearness  of  evidence,  that, 
in  the  terrible  example  of  severity  exercised  on  the 
most  exalted  Being  who  has  appeared  in  the  society 
of  men,  the  whole  family  of  moral  agents  in  heaven 
and  earth,  so  far  from  losing  motives  to  obedience  by 
the  sinner's  salvation,  have  been  infinitely  gainers. 
Whether  our  proposition  contains  the  whole  truth  I 
know  not;  but  it  is  amply  sufficient  for  my  faith 
and  hope.  I  need  no  other  view  of  the  efficacy  of 
my  Saviour's  death  in  order  to  understand  that  it  is 
a  proper  "  price  "  of  my  redemption. 

There  are  those,  however,  who  cannot  enjoy  the 
comfort  of  this  cheering  doctrine.  It  has  a  very  ex- 
traordinary aspect  in  their  eyes.  Especially  do  they 
scruple  the  reasonableness  and  justice  of  transferring 
the  pains  denounced  on  guilt  to  an  innocent  person. 
Objections  of  this  nature  often  proceed  from  honest 
hearts,  and  are  therefore  not  to  be  treated  with  con- 
tempt. 


SERMONS.  321 

As  to  the  extraordinary  character  of  the  fact,  we 
grant  it ;  but  we  plead  in  its  favor  the  equally  extraor- 
dinary emergency.  A  world  of  immortals  was  to 
be  brought  back,  from  a  foul  revolt,  to  God  and  hap- 
piness. But  to  bring  them  back  without  giving  a  les- 
son to  the  universe,  sufficient  at  least  to  neutralize  this 
example  of  impunity,  would  have  been,  as  we  have 
proved,  a  wanton  wrong  on  the  whole  moral  kingdom 
of  God.  Certain  preparatory  arrangements,  then,  were 
necessary  ;  a  demonstration  must  be  made,  —  if  pos- 
sible, some  imposing,  sensible  representation,  —  to 
seize  forcibly  on  the  mind,  and  by  calling  up  awful 
ideas  of  the  heinousness  of  sin  fortify  it  against  the 
perilous  sight  of  rebels  aggrandized  by  transgression. 
Now,  I  contend,  the  wit  of  man,  tasked  to  the  ut- 
most, never  would  fall  upon  an  expedient  half  so 
efficacious  as  that  actually  adopted,  —  exhibiting  to 
men  and  angels  the  spectacle  of  a  spotless  being  —  a 
partner  in  the  throne  which  had  been  dishonored  — 
voluntarily  undergoing  an  accursed  death  in  place  of 
the  guilty.  I  appeal  to  the  natural  feelings  of  every 
one  who  hears  me,  whether  the  salutary  horror  which 
it  is  the  design  of  punishment  to  inspire,  would  not 
be  wrought  up  to  the  highest  pitch  by  a  good  man 
stepping  before  the  criminal  and  baring  his  own 
bosom  to  the  sword  ? 

It  is  true  that  human  tribunals  refuse  to  accept 
such  sacrifices.  Why  is  this,  it  has  been  asked.  If 
the  idea  of  substitution  be  so  congenial  to  the  mind, 
why  are  not  sufferings  transferred  from  tlie  guilty  to 
the  innocent,  in  the  administration  of  justice  among 
men  ?     This  is  a  fair  question,  and  demands  a  fair 


322  SIIRMONS. 

and  manly  reply.  We  are  bound  to  show  that  what- 
ever analogy  exists  between  the  government  of  God 
and  of  men  in  other  respects,  it  here  utterly  fails ; 
in  other  words,  that  there  are  valid  reasons  why  the 
civil  magistrate  never  recurs  to  vicarious  atonement, 
which  reasons  do  not  apply  to  the  great  transaction 
on  Mount  Calvary.  As  we  believe  that  the  denial  of 
our  doctrine  owes  all  its  plausibility  to  wrong  views 
on  this  one  point,  we  are  anxious  to  set  it  before  you 
in  its  true  light. 

We  say  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  civil  magis- 
trate abstains  from  applying  the  vicarious  principle, 
because  the  capital  punishment  of  the  innocent 
citizen  in  place  of  the  guilty  would  be  an  act  of 
personal  injustice,  which  no  regards  of  general  ex- 
pediency would  justify.  Nor  would  the  injustice  be 
removed  by  his  free  consent.  He  has  no  right  to  con- 
sent. His  happiness  and  life  are  a  precious  trust, 
which  he  dare  not  surrender  except  at  the  call  of  him 
who  gave  them.  But  this  argument  is  utterly  devoid 
of  force  when  applied  to  the  Great  Mediator.  That 
wonderful  constitution  of  his  person,  by  which  he 
was  distinguished  from  all  the  creatures  of  God,  gives 
him  the  perfect  disposal  of  his  own  life,  the  absolute 
power  of  laying  it  down  whenever  the  sacrifice  ap- 
peared necessary  to  the  public  good.  Besides,  the 
injury  he  received  was  not  like  that  sustained  by 
a  mere  human  victim,  desperate  and  irremediable. 
When  the  good  man  has  once  laid  down  his  life  for 
his  friend,  there  is  no  return  to  the  joys  he  has  left. 
He  will  never  again  see  the  light  of  the  sun,  nor  the 
happy  faces  of  wife  and  children.     His  beneficence 


SUMMONS,  323 

has  cost  him  his  all,  and  justice  will  not  tolerate  the 
thought  of  so  immense  a  calamity  falling  on  the  head 
of  innocence,  though  innocence  itself  invite  the  blow. 
But  the  death  of  our  Redeemer  on  the  cross  had  a 
very  different  issue.  The  king  of  terrors  could  have 
no  lasting  dominion  over  the  Lord  of  life :  accord- 
ingly, after  three  days'  slumber  in  the  tomb,  he  rose 
in  the  majesty  of  his  Godhead,  and  ascended  to  the 
Father's  right  hand,  rejoicing  in  the  happy  issue  of 
his  glorious  toils.  His  case  is  thus  essentially  dif- 
ferent from  any  which  can  be  supposed  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  human  affairs.  An  example  was  set 
of  awful  retribution ;  yet  the  blameless  victim,  instead 
of  suffering  ultimate  loss,  has,  by  a  wonderful  dis- 
position of  events,  become  as  really  a  gainer  as  the 
objects  of  his  redeeming  love. 

Another  decisive  objection  to  the  admission  of 
vicarious  suffering  by  a  human  tribunal  is,  that  in- 
stead of  deterring  from  crimes  it  would,  by  its  fre- 
quent repetition,  encourage  them,  and  thus  contra- 
vene the  very  end  of  punishment.  It  is  evident  that 
the  civil  magistrate  must  govern  his  conduct  by 
general  rules.  If  he  allows,  in  any  instance,  an  in- 
nocent citizen  to  suffer  for  the  guilty,  he  is  forced  to 
allow  it  in  all,  and  thus  the  universal  maxim  would 
be  established,  that  provided  an  evil-doer  can  obtain 
a  substitute  to  bear  the  punishment  of  his  sins,  he  is 
certain  of  impunity.  It  may  be  said  that  the  princi- 
ple of  self-love  in  men  would  sufficiently  guard 
against  the  frequency  of  such  occurrences  as  volun- 
tary suffering  for  the  good  of  others.  But  they  who 
say   this    are    little    acquainted    with    the    strange 


324  SERMONS. 

mechanism  of  the  human  mind.  Do  we  not  see, 
every  day,  men  fronting  death  in  its  most  appalling 
forms  for  the  most  trifling  considerations?  What 
addition  to  his  usual  pittance  of  cents  a-  day  is  de- 
manded by  the  soldier  who  consents  to  join  the  for- 
lorn hope, — the  little  company  that  must  stand 
in  the  imminent  deadly  breach  ?  A  handful  of  silver 
coin  will,  at  any  moment,  produce  a  hundred  such 
heroes.  Nay,  I  dare  affirm,  that  in  the  happiest  com- 
munities there  are  many  who,  without  exhibiting  any 
peculiar  tendency  to  play  the  desperado  in  their 
every-day  deportment,  would  gladly  yield  up  their 
lives,  if  they  could  do  so,  with  signal  advantage  to 
their  families,  and  credit  to  themselves.  All  the  care 
of  the  rich  villain  then  would  be  to  keep  himself 
rich.  This  secured,  he  may  be  entirely  certain  that 
the  hour  of  trial  will  collect  around  him  a  host  of 
willing  substitutes.  With  these  views  pressing  on 
his  mind,  the  civil  magistrate  rightly  withholds  all 
sanction  from  a  principle,  the  occasional  application 
of  which  would  otherwise  be  of  admirable  efficacy. 

But,  now,  will  any  pretend  that  the  vicarious  atone- 
ment of  the  Redeemer  is  liable  to  this  objection  ?  Is 
it  probable  that  the  astonishing  events  of  Calvary 
will  ever  be  repeated  ?  Most  surely  not !  Here  was 
displayed  the  infinite  wisdom  and  unbounded  fore- 
sight of  our  Father  in  heaven,  that  help  was  laid  on 
one,  not  only  mighty  to  save,  but  so  single  and  unique 
in  his  character,  that  all  hope  of  forgiveness  being 
obtained  in  the  same  way,  at  a  future  period,  is  cut 
off  forever.  It  was  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  his  only 
begotten,  the  likeness  of  his  glory,  and  the  express 


SEEMONS.  325 

image  of  his  person,  who  humbled  himself  and  be- 
came obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  upon  the 
cross.  I  know,  and  will  not  pretend  to  conceal,  the 
difficulties  which  beset  this  subject.  I  know  that  the 
Divinity  cannot  suffer  and  die ;  that  the  man  Jesus 
was  alone  the  subject  of  those  bitter  agonies  which 
were  the  price  of  our  redemption.  But  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  resist  the  belief  that  between  the  suffering, 
dying  man  who  hung  upon  the  cross,  and  the  glori- 
ous Being  we  adore  as  the  second  person  of  the 
sacred  Trinity,  there  existed  the  most  close  and  inti- 
mate, though  mysterious  connection,  —  a  union  so 
complete  as  to  justify  our  conception  of  them  as  one 
indivisible  person.  The  obscurity  of  the  idea  is  no 
argument  against  the  fact.  There  are  many  connec- 
tions of  objects  in  the  visible  world  of  whose  nature 
we  are  wholly  ignorant,  though  we  cannot  deny  their 
existence;  that,  for  example,  between  the  soul  and 
body.  Perhaps,  too,  the  mysteriousness  of  the  union 
between  our  Saviour's  Godhead  and  humanity  is  posi- 
tively advantageous,  by  arousing  the  imagination,  and 
giving  his  sufferings  a  stronger  hold  on  the  intelli- 
gent beings  for  whose  instruction  they  were  designed. 
It  is  a  strange  error,  into  which  some  have  fallen, 
that  an  idea  cannot  make  a  profound  impression  un- 
less it  be  perfectly  clear  and  determinate.  Rather 
the  contrary  is  true.  It  is  the  unsearchable,  the  im- 
measurable, the  infinite  which  exercise  a  fascinating 
power.  When  an  object  presents  itself  to  our  con- 
templation too  large  for  our  embrace,  —  to  which  we 
can  fix  no  limits, —  enveloped  in  impenetrable  ob- 
scurity,  like  boundless   space,   never   ending   dura- 


326  SERMONS. 

tion ;  above  all,  the  Almighty  dwelling  in  thick  clouds 
and  with  the  majesty  of  darkness  circling  round  his 
throne,  —  then  a  "  fear  cometh  on  us,  a  trembling 
maketh  our  bones  to  shake  ;  "  awe  and  admiration  ex- 
pel every  lighter  sentiment ;  the  soul  is  on  the  wing, 
burns  to  compass  the  vast  unknown,  and  soars  away 
like  an  eagle  toward  heaven,  in  the  strong  desire  of 
reaching  the  heights  of  its  noble  argument.  How 
much  the  idea  of  God  himself  owes  its  elevating 
character  to  this  principle  of  our  nature,  you  are 
all  sensible.  Perhaps,  were  we  to  comprehend  him 
thoroughly,  our  conception,  instead  of  gaining,  would 
suffer  a  dreadful  loss  of  grandeur  and  efficacy.  Let 
us  not,  then,  complain  of  an  obscurity  which  is  per- 
mitted to  envelop  the  union  of  the  divine  and  hu- 
man natures  of  our  Redeemer  for  the  best  designs. 
The  fact  is  beyond  controversy,  and  the  vagueness  of 
our  apprehensions  renders  it  more  splendidly  mag- 
nificent ;  better  adapted  to  be  what  it  really  is,  the 
grand  central  truth  of  God's  wide-extended  universe. 
Seraphim  and  cherubim  find  in  it  an  exhaustless 
theme  of  wonder  and  speculation.  The  impossibility 
of  fathoming  the  depths  of  the  surpassing  mystery 
only  raises  their  conceptions  and  rivets  their  attention 
on  the  great  lessons  which  it  teaches. 

Is  it  necessary,  after  all  this,  to  ask  whether  an 
atonement  by  vicarious  suffering  will  soon  be  re- 
peated ?  Has  God  another  Son  beside  his  only 
begotten  ?  or  will  some  angel  be  commissioned  from 
the  seventh  heaven  to  stand  between  the  rebel  and 
his  sentence  ?  Vain  hope.  The  substitution  of  the 
Eternal   Son  would  never   have  taken  place  if  that 


SERMONS.  327 

of  an  inferior  could  have  been  of  any  avail.  Thus, 
the  whole  moral  family  of  God  has  come  to  the 
fullest  understanding  that  his  last  work  for  redeem- 
ing sinners  has  been  accomplished ;  and  that 
whoever  ventures  on  disobedience,  must,  hereafter, 
certainly  pay  the  dreadful  forfeit.  Great  goodness 
was  shown  in  settling  this  point  by  a  solemn,  decisive 
spectacle,  the  import  of  which  could  not  be  mis- 
taken ;  and  who  dare  call  it  an  idle  conjecture,  that 
for  every  sinner  on  earth,  redeemed  by  the  cross  of 
Christ,  there  are  myriads  of  stainless  immortals  who 
owe  their  continued  loyalty  and  fidelity  to  its  salutary 
warning  ?  The  sentiment  is  clearly  warranted  by 
Kevelation,  which  assures  us  that,  by  Christ,  God 
was  pleased,  having  made  peace  through  the  blood  of 
the  cross,  to  reconcile  all  things  to  himself,  whether 
they  be  things  on  earth  or  things  in  heaven.  It  is 
not  then  surprising  that  John,  in  prophetic  vision, 
saw  the  heavenly  armies  prostrate  before  Him  that 
was  slain,  and  joining  in  the  hallelujahs  of  the  re- 
deemed :  "  And  I  beheld,  and  heard  the  voice  of 
many  angels  round  the  throne,  and  of  every  creature, 
in  heaven  and  on  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  saying, 
with  a  loud  voice.  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain,  to  receive  power,  and  wisdom,  and  honor,  and 
glory,  and  blessing,  forever  and  ever." 

It  is  time  to  close  my  remarks.  What  a  view  does 
this  subject  present  of  the  nature  of  sin ;  and  what  a 
reproof  does  it  administer  to  those  who  would  fain 
believe  that  the  moral  disorders  of  human  nature 
are  trifling  infirmities,  which  ought  not  permanently 
to  separate   from   God's   paternal   love  !     The  price 


328  SERMONS. 

paid  for  our  redemption  speaks  a  very  different  lan- 
guage. He  who  was  in  the  form  of  God,  and 
thought  it  no  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  took 
upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  died  an  igno- 
minious, most  excruciating,  and  accursed  death.  Do 
you  feel  a  lamentable  imperfection  in  your  views  on 
this  subject  ?  Do  you  find,  oftentimes,  a  disposition 
strong  within  you  (as  alas,  who  does  not  ?)  to  regard 
sin  with  other  emotions  than  those  of  bitter  and 
deadly  hostility  ?  Repair  to  your  Saviour's  cross. 
There  you  can  take  the  full  dimensions  of  the  mon- 
ster, and  in  that  dying  cry,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why 
hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  learn  how  deep  the  abyss 
from  which  you  have  been  delivered. 

Secondly.  Let  us  admire  the  love  of  God  displayed 
in  our  redemption.  After  the  account  we  have  given 
of  the  doctrine,  we  may  well  express  surprise  at  the 
objection  of  its  enemies,  that  it  makes  God  an  angry 
creditor,  who  must  be  bought  off  from  prosecuting 
his  demands,  and  who  scarcely  lays  aside  his  wrath 
when  he  has  received  the  uttermost  farthing.  The 
sentiment  charged  upon  us  we  abhor,  that  the  Father 
entertained  to  us  feelings  different  from  those  of  the 
benevolent  Substitute.  All  contended  for  is  this  sim- 
ple and  perfectly  intelligible  proposition,  that  to  par- 
don, without  having  previously  guarded  against  the 
dangerous  consequences,  would  have  been  unbecom- 
ing the  Ruler  of  a  thousand  worlds.  There  were 
reasons,  in  short,  why  men  should  not  be  saved,  and 
Jesus  Christ  has  removed  them.  But  these  reasons 
lay  in  the  nature  of  things,  not  in  the  temper  of 
Deity.     We  know  that  from  eternity  mercy  was  in 


SERMONS.  329 

his  heart ;  and  the  very  expedient,  by  which  remission 
is  harmonized  with  public  justice,  originated  in  his 
sovereign  compassion  :  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son."  Away  with  the  fear 
that  the  doctrine  of  redemption  will  obscure  the 
glory  of  divine  benevolence.  That  benevolence  is 
its  brightest,  its  most  transcendent  manifestation. 

Finally.  Let  Christians  rejoice  in  their  exalted  priv- 
ileges, and  feel  the  whole  force  of  the  motives  they  sup- 
ply to  live,  not  unto  themselves,  but  to  Him  "  who 
loved  us,  and  gave  himself  for  us."  What  blessed- 
ness can  compare  with  that  into  which  you  have  been 
introduced  by  the  grace  and  merit  of  your  Redeemer  ? 
Relieved  from  that  load  of  guilt  which  was  crushing 
you  down  to  the  lowest  hell,  —  at  peace  with  God  and 
having  access  to  him  as  a  Father,  —  sanctified  by  the 
Divine  Spirit  whom  Jesus  sends  into  the  hearts  of 
his  people,  you  already  have  a  foretaste  of  those  pure 
joys  which  await  you  above.  "  All  things  are  yours.'^'' 
But  remember,  too,  that  yoxi  are  Chrisfs.  He  hath 
redeemed  you  to  himself  to  be  glorified  in  you  and 
by  you.  In  your  love  and  obedience  he  enjoys  the 
proper  reward  of  his  work,  —  the  reward  that  was 
directly  in  his  view  when  he  endured  the  cross  and 
despised  the  shame.  Will  you  refuse  him  this  trib- 
ute ?  You  dare  not.  Christian.  You  dare  not. 
Your  soul  revolts  at  the  shocking  inconsistency,  and 
adopts  the  expressive  language  of  the  apostle :  "I 
am  crucified  with  Christ :  nevertheless  I  live  ;  yet  not 
I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me,  and  the  life  which  I  now 
live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God." 

Let  this  be  the  language  of  your  practice  as  well 

28* 


330  SERMONS. 

as  of  your  lips.  Endeavor  to  resemble  your  Master 
in  all  those  holy  beauties  by  which  his  character  was 
distinguished.  Abide  in  him,  that  when  he  shall  ap- 
pear, ye  may  have  confidence,  and  not  be  ashamed 
before  him  at  his  coming. 


The  Fulness  of  Christ. 


XV. 

THE   FULNESS    OF   CHRIST. 


Col.  1  :  19.    (for  it  pitastb  i\t  ^A\tx  Ibat    in  l^im  sl^oultr  all  fulnjess 
bfodl. 


HAT  we  are  all,  naturally,  in  a  helpless  and 
indigent  condition  does  not  admit  of  denial : 
at  least,  the  man  who  can  doubt  the  truth  of 
the  proposition  must  be  strangely  infatuated. 
Even  as  creatures^  we  are  entirely  dependent  on  the 
charity  of  our  Creator,  possessing  nothing  which  we 
can  properly  call  our  own, — mere  tenants  at  will,  lia- 
ble every  moment  to  be  ejected  from  what  we  hold 
by  the  most  stable  tenure.  But,  to  have  adequate 
ideas  on  this  subject,  we  must  take  into  view  another 
fact,  attested  by  the  Bible  and  universal  experience 
—  our  sinfulness.  By  apostasy  we  have  been  sep- 
arated from  the  living  and  exhaustless  fountain  of 
good.  Like  the  prodigal,  in  the  parable,  we  have 
left  our  Father's  house  and  wandered  into  a  far  coun- 
try, inflated  with  chimerical  notions  of  independence 
and  self-sufficiency.  Ours,  too,  has  been  the  prodi- 
gal's reward !  Reduced,  in  consequence  of  our  de- 
parture, to  a  horrid  famine,  we  are  greedily  feeding 
on  base  and  empty  husks,  —  the  sordid,  unsatisfying 
enjoyments  of  the  present  world.  It  is  true,  all  do 
not  feel  the  pinching  want  which,  "  like  an  armed 


334  SERMONS. 

man,"  has  come  upon  them.  Like  the  same  prodi- 
gal they  have  fallen  into  a  strange  stupor  and  de- 
lirium, which  disqualifies  them  for  appreciating  the 
real  truth  of  the  case.  It  is  said  that  in  the  last 
stage  of  famine  the  sufferer  gradually  falls  asleep, 
and  is  entertained  with  pleasant  dreams  of  costly 
viands,  rich  wines,  and  everything  calculated  to 
gratify  his  appetite.  Such  is  the  natural  state  of 
sinful  men.  They  imagine  they  have  enough  and 
to  spare.  They  talk  of  being  rich ;  boast  that  they 
are  happy.  But  they  dream ;  and  if  God,  in  his 
mercy,  does  not  break  the  spell  which  fascinates 
them  before  they  are  arrested  by  the  sleep  of  death, 
they  shall  have  a  dreadful  awakening,  when  it  will  be 
too  late  to  avert  the  consequences  of  their  delusion. 

Accordingly,  the  first  sentiment  of  a  man  truly  re- 
newed by  the  grace  of  the  gospel  is  invariably  that 
of  need,  absolute,  urgent  need.  No  sooner  has 
the  unhappy  prodigal  come  to  himself  than  he  de- 
tects the  vile  delusion  he  was  under.  Instead  of  re- 
joicing on  a  throne,  he  finds  himself  a  shackled  pris- 
oner in  a  dungeon.  Instead  of  being  in  need  of 
nothing,  he  discovers  that  he  is  in  want  of  all  things. 
There  is  a  void,  and  a  mighty  one,  in  his  immortal 
spirit,  which  must  be  filled  up.  Without  restoration 
to  the  favor  of  God,  without  likeness  to  him,  without 
a  heart  to  love  and  serve  him,  without  the  prospect  of 
dwelling  forever  in  his  presence,  he  feels  he  cannot 
be  happy :  he  acknowledges  that  he  could  no  more 
be  satisfied  with  any  other  blessings  than  his  fam- 
ished body  could  be  nourished  by  a  dream. 

To  a  person  of  such  sentiments  the  words  of  my 


SERMONS.  335 

text  are  unspeakably  interesting  and  precious.  They 
are  not  indeed  calculated  to  make  much  impression 
on  those  who  have  never,  been  awakened  from  the 
sleep  of  carnal  security ;  for  of  what  consequence  to 
the  whole  is  it  that  they  hear  of  a  physician  ?  For 
such,  the  text  is  neither  intended  nor  suited  :  "  Jesus 
Christ  came  to  save  that  which  was  lost ;  "  "to  call 
sinners,  not  the  righteous,  to  repentance."  If  there 
be  persons  of  this  character  before  me,  who  feel 
their  miserable  poverty,  who  pant  after  something  in 
the  shape  of  happiness  which  the  world  can  never 
give,  and  who,  emptied  of  all  self-confidence,  exclaim, 
from  the  depths  of  their  destitution,  "Lord,  help  me, 
for  I  am  poor  and  needy,"  we  know  the  fact  will  re- 
joice their  spirits  that  "  it  hath  pleased  the  Father 
that  in  Christ  should  all  fulness  dwell." 

The  words  are  at  the  close  of  a  high  eulogy  by  the 
apostle  on  the  person  and  work  of  his  ascended  Mas- 
ter. He  declares  him  to  be  "  the  image  of  the  in- 
visible God ;  the  first-born  of  every  creature,  who 
was  before  all  things,  and  by  whom  all  things  con- 
sist." He  speaks  of  the  high  honor  conferred  on 
him,  inasmuch  as  he  is  appointed  head  of  the  body, 
the  church ;  and  is  first-born  from  the  dead,  that  in 
all  things  he  might  have  the  preeminence  ;  and  he 
sums  up  the  whole  by  declaring  the  Father's  good 
pleasure,  that  "  in  him  should  all  fulness  dwell." 

I  commence  with  observing  that  there  is  a  per- 
sonal fulness  of  Divinity  which  essentially  belongs 
to  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God.  This  is  expressed  by 
the  apostle  with  remarkable  emphasis  in  another  part 
of  his  writings :  "  In  him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of 


336  SERMONS. 

the  Godhead  bodily."  There  is  no  attribute  of  Deity 
but  resides  in  him  as  the  second  person  of  the  adora- 
ble Trinity.  He  is,  in  his  own  proper  nature  and 
essence,  infinitely  rich,  possessing  every  divine  per- 
fection in  the  highest  possible  degree.  On  examin- 
ing the  sacred  page  we  find  them  all,  without  excep- 
tion, frequently  attributed  to  him  ;  for  example,  eter- 
nity :  "  He  is  the  alpha  and  omega,  the  first  and  the 
last,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  who  was,  and  is,  and 
is  to  come."  He  is  the  omniscient  One,  who  "  needeth 
not  that  any  should  testify  of  man,  for  he  knew  what 
was  in  man."  To  his  omnipotence,  the  august  works* 
of  creation  and  providence  sufficiently  testify ;  for 
by  him  were  all  things  created  that  are  in  heaven 
and  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether  thrones  or 
dominions,  principalities  or  powers  :  "  all  things  were 
created  by  him  and  for  him."  That  omnipresence  is 
his,  is  proved  in  his  parting  promise  to  his  disciples : 
"  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of 
the  world."  Immutability  is  his,  for  he  "  is  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  This,  however,  is 
not  the  idea  which  the  apostle  intends  to  express 
in  the  text.  His  eternal  Godhead  he  possessed  ab- 
solutelt/,  necessarily^  and  without  donation;  in  refer- 
ence to  which,  therefore,  the  proposition  could  not 
be  made,  "  It  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him 
should  all  fulness  dwell."  We  must  observe,  at  the 
same  time,  that  this  is  the  true  and  proper  founda- 
tion of  the  other.  Were  not  our  Redeemer  the 
mighty  God,  the  everlasting  Father,  he  never  would 
have  been  capable  of  receiving  that  delegated  fulness, 
which  qualifies  him  to  be  our  blessed  king  and  head. 


SERMONS.  337 

There  is  a  fulness  also  which  belongs  to  him  as 
Mediator,  consisting  in  his  perfect  fitness  to  execute 
the  work  on  which  he  came  into  the  world.  In 
his  person  as  God  and  man,  united  indissolublj 
and  forever,  there  is  a  completeness  of  qualification 
to  make  perfect  satisfaction  to  the  divine  law.  Being 
man  as  well  as  God,  he  had  a  human  body  to  offer 
in  sacrifice  ;  for  "  he  took  not  on  him  the  nature  of 
angels,  but  he  took  on  him  the  seed  of  Abraham." 
Being  a  perfectly  holy  man,  he  was  fitted  to  be  such 
a  High  Priest  as  became  ns,  "  holy,  harmless,  unde- 
filed,  and  separate  from  sinners."  Being  God  as 
well  as  man,  his  atonement  possessed  infinite  dignity 
and  virtue,  and  was  accepted  as  a  full  compensation 
for  the  injuries  sustained  by  moral  order.  Thus, 
in  all  respects,  he  was  entirely  competent  to  be  a 
faithful  High  Priest  in  things  pertaining  to  God,  to 
make  reconciliation  for  the  sins  of  the  people. 

But  neither  is  this  the  principal  thought  which  the 
apostle  intends  to  express,  though  it  is  contained  in 
his  words  and  is  a  part  of  the  general  idea.  The  ful- 
ness which  he  mainly  refers  to  is  what  has  been 
called  the  distributive  or  communicative  fulness  of  the 
Redeemer:  that  immense  and  inexhaustible  treasure 
of  saving  blessing  deposited  with  him  by  the  Father, 
to  be  dispensed  to  the  children  of  men.  It  is  the 
high  and  magnificent  prerogative  he  received  when 
God  exalted  him  to  his  right  hand,  of  doing  all  i 
things  according  to  his  j^leasure  in  heaven  and  earth,  i 
in  behalf  of  his  body,  the  church.  Accordingly,  it  is 
said,  "  The  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath  put  all 
things  into  his  hands."      As  a  parent  would  delegate 

29 


338  sERiVOXS. 

to  a  favorite  or  only  child  the  entire  management  of 
a  certain  part  of  his  possessions,  resigning  his  own 
special  agency  with  respect  to  that  part,  and  appear- 
ing only  through  the  other  ashis  agent  and  represent- 
ative ;  so  God  has  made  over  to  Jesus,  the  Mediator, 
the  great  human  family,  that  he  may  restore  it  to 
the  happiness  which  had  been  forfeited,  reunite  it  to 
the  kingdom  of  light  from  which  it  had  been  sep- 
arated, and  be  the  repository  of  all  the  good  to  be 
enjoyed  through  time  and  through  eternity.  He . 
is  the  great  storehouse  in  which  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  felicity,  and 
from  which  the  redeemed  are  continually  receiving 
grace  for  grace.  This  is  the  interesting  fact  referred 
to  principally  in  my  text,  and  it  includes  the  following 
particulars :  — 

The  absolute  and  unrestricted  prerogative  of  gath- 
ering sinners  into  his  redeemed  family. 

A  fulness  of  atoning  merit  for  their  justification 
and  pardon. 

The  possession  of  all  the  gifts  and  influences  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  for  their  renovation  in  the  image  of 
God. 

Light  and  power  for  their  guidance  and  defence. 

Fulness  of  glory  and  blessedness,  to  be  revealed 
when  they  shall  have  finished  their  eartldy  course. 

First.  There  is  a  fulness  of  ability  in  Christ  to 
gather  sinners  into  his  redeemed  family.  This  he  re- 
ceived as  an  appropriate  reward  for  his  fulfilling  the 
stupendous  task  of  our  redemption.  We  cannot  sup- 
pose that  the  Son  of  God  would  stoop  from  his 
eternal  throne,  assume  the  form  of  a  servant,  and 


SERMONS.  339 

become  a  suffering  substitute  for  the  guilty,  without 
express  provision  that  he  should  have  power  to  apply- 
in  his  own  good  time  the  benefits  of  his  purchase 
to  the  unhappy  rebel.  The  withholding  such  a  right 
would  have  been  unjust  in  the  extreme ;  for  might 
he  not  do  what  he  would  with  his  own?  Having 
poured  out  his  blood  from  a  generous  regard  to  the 
good  of  others,  he  might  well  claim  the  privilege  of 
conferring  its  healing  virtue  wherever  and  on  whom- 
soever it  seemed  good  to  his  benevolent  heart.  In 
accordance  with  this,  it  is  assertod,  "  The  Son  quick- 
eneth  whom  he  will ;  for  the  Father  hath  committed 
all  judgment  to  the  Son."  This  was  the  joy  set  be- 
fore him,  for  which  he  endured  the  cross  and  despised 
the  shame,  ■ —  the  prerogative  of  gathering  whom  he 
wouM.  from  every  nation  and  kindred,  tongue  and 
people.  By  virtue  of  it,  he  immediately  on  his 
resurrection  commissioned  his  servants  to  go  forth 
and  announce  salvation  to  the  whole  family  of  man. 
The  whole  design  of  his  gospel  is  to  reveal  the  great 
truth  of  his  sufficiency  to  meet  the  wants  of  every 
sinner  that  hears  it.  In  every  page  and  paragraph 
we  have  with  more  or  less  directness  a  free,  liberal, 
unqualified  invitation  to  believe  on  his  name.  By 
the  same  divine  prerogative  which  originally  sent  it 
forth,  this  gospel  has  been  preserved  from  century  to 
century,  until  at  length  in  these  ends  of  the  earth 
it  lifts  up  its  cheering  voice  to  the  praise  of  the 
glorious  fulness  of  Immanuel. 

But  the  right  of  offering  salvation  is  a  small  part  of 
the  prerogative  we  speak  of.  He  has  also  tlie  right 
and  ability  to  apply  it,  —  to  make  a  people  willing  in 


340  SERMONS. 

the  day  of  his  power.  There  is,  if  I  may  use  the 
expression,  stored  up  with  him  an  infinite  fund  of 
convincing  and  converting  grace^  which  he  employs  in 
the  actual  gathering  of  sinners  into  his  redeemed 
family,  translating  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and 
from  the  power  of  Satan  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 
One  touch  of  his  mighty  sceptre  softens  the  hardest 
heart,  breaks  the  proudest  spirit,  and  subdues  to  his 
obedience  the  most  rebellious.  However  fast  the 
prisoner  may  be  bound  with  the  cords  of  depravity, 
these  cords  are  straw  in  the  hands  of  our  heavenly 
Samson.  The  highest  mountains  of  opposition  be- 
come a  plain  before  this  illustrious  Zerubbabel,  when 
he  comes  in  the  chariot  of  salvation,  in  the  greatness 
of  his  power.  Let  him  but  pronounce  the  word,  a 
whole  valley  of  dry  bones  shall  stand  up  a  living  and 
exceeding  great  army.  Only  secure  his  benediction 
on  ordinances,  not  a  heart  shall  be  unpierced  ;  not  an 
eye  unfilled  with  contrition's  tear ;  not  a  tongue  but 
will  exclaim,  "  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ? " 
Blessed  Master !  only  exercise  thy  divine  prerogative, 
and  come  down  with  thy  saving  power  in  the  midst 
of  us :  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  these  sacred  walls 
will  contain  a  thousand  gathered  saints. 

This  is  the  first  specimen  we  give  of  the  fulness 
that  is  in  our  Redeemer.  I  trust  there  are  some 
of  us  who  need  no  instruction  on  the  subject  but 
that  which  they  have  gained  from  happy  personal  ex- 
perience. Let  such  celebrate  with  gladness  his  glori- 
ous gathering  grace.  Let  Christ  have  the  entire 
honor  of  that  wonderful  change  which  has  been 
wrought,  as  you  humbly  trust,  in  your  condition  and 


SEEMONS.  841 

prospects.    He  ditl  the  work,  if  it  ever  has  been  done. 
His  words  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life. 

Secondly.  There  is  in  him  a  fulness  of  righteous- 
ness for  justification  and  pardon.  The  meritorious 
obedience  and  satisfaction,  rendered  by  him  to  the 
divine  law,  he  keeps  in  his  hands  as  a  sacred  fund, 
the  whole  of  which  he  bestows  on  every  needy  ap- 
plicant :  such  being  its  admirable  virtue  and  power  of 
multiplication,  that  each  possesses  it  undivided  with- 
out in  the  least  degree  affecting  its  availableness 
to  others.  This  righteousness,  as  to  its  value,  is 
infinite,  being  the  righteousness  of  a  God.  It  is  capa- 
ble of  being  imputed,  for  it  is  the  righteousness  of  a 
man.  It  meets  all  the  exigencies  of  the  case  :  on  the 
one  hand,  disarming  the  curse  by  the  sufferings  of  its 
Divine  .Author  on  the  cross ;  on  the  other,  honoring 
the  precept  by  such  a  wonderful  course  of  obedience 
without  a  stain,  that  infidelity  itself  is  struck  dumb 
at  the  contemplation  of  a  picture  so  infinitely  tran- 
scending all  the  ideas  it  had  previously  formed  of  a 
perfect  man.  The  personal  character  of  Jesus  was  a 
magnificent  orb  of  light  and  moral  glory,  which 
one  dark  speck  never  crossed  or  blurred,  even  his 
enemies  being  judges  ;  and  was  crowned  with  a  death 
so  astonishing,  hi  all  its  attendant  circumstances,  that 
not  only  the  throes  of  inanimate  nature,  but  the 
voice  of  humanity  itself,  speaking  by  the  lips  of  the 
Roman  centurion,  bore  testimony  to  his  being  the 
Son  of  God.  Such  a  phenomenon  in  the  world's 
history  could  not  but  have  been  designed  to  exert  a 
mighty  influence  on  the  fates  and  fortunes  of  the  human 
race.    God  does  nothing  in  vain;  and  from  the  great- 

29* 


342  SERMONS. 

ness  of  the  effect  he  produces  in  a  given  instance,  we 
may  solidly  reason  to  tlie  grandeur  of  the  design.     It 
could  not  have  been  for  a  trifling  purpose  that  so 
wonderful  a  Being  appeared  in  the  midst  of  us  ;  one 
who  towered  so  high  above  his  fellows ;  so  evidently 
allied  to  the  divine,  if  not  (what  we  know  to  be  the 
fact)   an   impersonation   of  Divinity  itself,  that  we 
scarcely  dare  to  claim  with  him  community  of  nature. 
Look  at  him  as  delineated  in  the  narratives  of  his 
disciples,  and  say  whether  I  exaggerate  wlien  I  affirm 
that  his  existence  in  our  dark  and  degraded  world 
is  a  miracle  equal  to  that  which  first  ushered  the 
universe  into  being.     I  repeat  my  assertion.    The  ap- 
pearance of  Jesus  Christ  could  not  be  for  a  trifling 
purpose.      The    all-wise    Disposer    of   .events    must 
have    intended   to   accomplish   by   it   a   result  that 
would  be  felt  through  the  revolving  ages  of  eternity. 
What  this  result  is,  we  are  not  left,  blessed  be  God ! 
dimly   to   conjecture.     His   glorious  career   merited 
immortal  privileges  and  honors  for  the  race  whose 
nature  he  assumed :  that  is  it.    Hereby  a  foundation 
was  laid  for  the  blotting-out  of  sin,  and  a  reestablish- 
ment  of  happy  relations  with  the  offended  Sovereign 
of  heaven.     With  it  the  great  Conservator  of  moral 
order  has  declared  himself  well  pleased,  and  given 
the  assurance  that  all  who  appear  in  this  seamless 
robe  shall  be  accepted  in  his  sight.     Hence  it  is  de- 
clared, "  He   fulfilled  all   righteousness ; "   and   the 
heart  of  every  sincere  believer  echoes,  in  glad  recog- 
nition of  its  truth,   "  He  is  the  Lord  my  righteous- 
ness."    We  do  not  surely  mean  to  be  understood  as 
saying,  that  there  is  any  actual  infusion  of  Christ's 


SEE  21  ON  S.  343 

personal  holiness  into  the  souls  of  believers,  so  that 
it  becomes  theirs  in  the  same  sense  in  which  their  own 
physical  and  moral  qualities  are  theirs,  —  a  view  of 
the  subject  too  childish  to  be  seriously  entertained, 
and  existing  only  in  the  fancy  of  those  who  oppose 
our  doctrine ;  many  of  them  not  scrupling  to  throw 
odium  upon  it  by  the  grossest  misrepresentation. 
What  we  affirm  is,  the  simple  and  perfectly  intelligi- 
ble truth,  that  such  a  moral  transfer  takes  place 
of  what  he  did  and  suffered  as  the  great  covenant- 
head  of  humanity,  to  the  account  of  the  sinner,  as 
acquits  him  from  the  sentence  of  condemnation  and 
gives  him  a  title  to  heavenly  blessing.  This  right- 
eousness is  offered  to  all  of  Adam's  family,  and  is 
abundantly  sufficient  for  all.  Being  of  infinite  merit, 
it  is  exhibited  in  the  gospel  as  a  common  benefit, 
which  received  by  faith  never  fails  in  securing  all 
things  connected  with  salvation.  That  all  do  not  ex- 
perience its  saving  efficacy  is  a  melancholy  truth  ; 
but  our  Redeemer  has  himself  given  the  equally 
melancholy  reason :  "  They  will  7iot  come  unto  me 
that  they  may  have  life." 

From  this  imputed  righteousness  proceeds  the  for- 
giveness of  sin  ;  for  "  we  have  redemption  through  his 
blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins."  An  act  of  par- 
don issues  from  the  courts  of  heaven,  the  tenor  of 
which  is,  "  I  will  be  merciful  to  their  iniquities  and 
their  sins  will  I  remember  no  more."  To  the  same 
purpose  are  various  other  expressions  of  sacred 
Scripture.  Our  sins  are  said  to  be  blotted  out, 
washed  away,  thrown  into  the  sea,  —  all  of  which  ex- 
press in  the  most  forcible  manner  the  complete  and 


344  SEEMOXS. 

everlasting  cancel  of  guilt  tliroiigh  the  atoning  merit 
of  the  Saviour.  What  an  illustrious  dispenser  of  bless- 
ing, then,  is  he  in  whom  we  trust !  Does  he  not  de- 
serve all  the  encomiums  passed  upon  liim  by  prophets, 
apostles,  and  saints  in  every  age  ?  How  adorable  that 
grace  which  wipes  away  the  stains  of  our  sin  as  if 
they  had  never  been  ;  that  mercy  which  speaks  to  us, 
rebels  as  we  are,  in  this  tender  strain  :  "  Though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow." 

But  we  have  not  exhausted  the  topic.  There  is 
more  than  pardon.  There  is  the  privilege  of  adop- 
tion, by  which  the  enfranchised  slave  is  introduced 
into  the  family  of  God,  and  recognized  as  no  more 
a  servant  but  a  son  :  —  the  poor  wretch !  This  also 
is  the  gift  of  Christ ;  the  bestowment  of  it  is  ex- 
pressly asserted  to  be  part  of  the  divine  prerogative 
given  by  the  Father:  "As  many  as  received  him, 
to  them  gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God, 
eveii  to  them  that  believe  on  his  name."  And 
again,  it  is  said  :  "  To  redeem  them  that  were  under 
the  law,  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons." 

Thirdly.  There  is  a  fulness  of  grace  and  vital  in- 
fluence for  renovating  the  soul  in  the  divine  image, 
which  had  been  lost  by  the  apostasy.  In  other 
words,  the  sanctijication  of  his  people  is  a  most 
interesting  branch  of  his  mediatorial  prerogative. 
Were  there  no  hindrance  to  communion  with  God 
from  the  guilt  of  our  sins,  —  were  our  obnoxious- 
liess  to  punishment  on  account  of  them  entirely 
removed,  yet  one  insurmountable  obstuction  would 
still  remain:  we  hvq  7noraUi/ 2:)oUuted ;  and  Heaven's 
proclamation  has  gone  forth  :  "  Without  holiness  no 


SEEMONS.  345 

man  shall  see  the  Lord."  Jesus  Christ,  on  that 
memorable  hour  when  he  received  gifts  for  men,  did 
not  neglect  to  provide  for  this  emergency.  He  ob- 
tained from  the  Father  the  right,  not  only  to  make  a 
people  willing  in  the  day  of  his  power,  but  willing  in 
the  beauty  of  JioUness.  Having  become  their  7ight- 
eous7iess,  they  next  experience  him  to  be  their  sane- 
tification.  The  Christ  witJwut  now  begins  to  manifest 
himself  as  the  Christ  within.  In  a  word,  he  received 
the  Holy  Spirit,  by  whose  agency  he  presents  the 
church  to  himself,  "  without  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any 
such  thing,"  making  it  "  a  holy  generation,  a  royal 
priesthood,  a  peculiar  people." 

This  great  work  he  commences  on  the  day  of 
conversion  ;  breathing  into  the  soul  a  divine  and  spir- 
itual vitality,  which  evinces  its  presence  by  corre- 
sponding divine  and  spiritual  actings  in  accordance 
with  his  promise  :  "  Because  I  live  ye  shall  live  also." 
As  the  precious  ointment,  on  the  head  of  Aaron,  is 
said  to  have  run  down  to  the  skirts  of  his  garments, 
so  the  oil  of  gladness,  with  which  our  great  High 
Priest  was  anointed  above  his  fellows,  passes  over 
him  in  rich  abundance  and  quickening  efficacy  from 
the  head  to  all  the  members  of  the  mystical  body. 
He  takes  away  the  stony  heart,  and  gives  a  heart  of 
flesh.  He  writes  in  the  inner  man  a  new  law,  —  the 
law  of  the  spirit  of  life,  —  which  makes  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death.  Love  to  God  and  the  rule  of 
rectitude  is  now  the  controlling  principle  of  conduct. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  new  and  delightful  senti- 
ment, the  subject  of  it  exclaims  :  "  Oh,  how  love  I  thy 
law !     I  delight  in  it  after  the  inner  man."     More- 


346  SERMONS, 

over,  his  heart,  purged  of  selfishness,  is  tenderly 
affected  to  all  mankind.  He  rejoices  with  them  that 
rejoice  ;  he  weeps  witli  those  that  weep,  and  seeks 
the  best,  even  the  eternal  interests  of  botli. 

Again ;  as  Christ  is  the  author,  so  he  is  the  finisher 
of  our  faith  ^  carrying  on  the  good  work  he  has  com- 
menced till  the  day  of  redemption.  Those  spiritual 
influences  which  first  induced  the  sinner  to  turn  from 
his  evil  ways  and  live  unto  God,  he  continues  with 
him,  sometimes  more  abundantly,  at  other  less,  but 
never  entirely  withdrawing  them  during  his  journey 
heavenward.  Arc  they  able  to  persevere  in  a  good 
profession  through  many  difficulties  ?  ''  By  him  they 
are  kept  through  faith  unto  salvation."  Do  they  some- 
times wander  ?  He,  the  good  Shepherd,  brings  them 
back  to  the  fold.  Are  they  pressed  down  by  a 
body  of  sin  and  death  ?  Victory  is  given  them 
through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Are  they  buffeted 
by  temptations  from  without  ?  "  His  strength  is 
made  perfect  in  weakness."  Nay,  they  are  enabled 
to  make  constant  advances  in  the  divine  life.  For- 
getting the  things  that  are  behind,  they  press  forward 
to  the  things  that  are  before.  Their  past  failings 
they  subdue,  correct  the  mistakes  into  which  igno- 
rance or  precipitance  may  have  plunged  them,  and 
from  past  experience  derive  lessons  for  the  future. 
In  fine,  all  things  necessary  to  establish,  strengtlien, 
and  make  them  perfect  in  every  good  word  and  work, 
are  communicated  to  them  from  the  plenitude  of  the 
Redeemer's  grace. 

Nothing  but  this  can  raise  the  soul  from  its  pollu- 
tion and  restore  the  lineaments  of  heaven.     We  may 


SERMONS.  /  347 

labor  for  these  blessings  with  untiring  effort ;  but, 
without  union  to  the  living  vine,  assuredly  our  labor 
shall  be  in  vain.  It  cannot  be  otherwise.  There  is 
no  promise  of  assista7ice,  no  sanctifying  Spirit  apart 
from  the  Redeemer.  There  is  no  kind  hand  to  hold 
us  up  in  the  contest  with  corruption,  to  raise  us 
when  fallen,  and  pour  oil  into  our  wounds.  We  are 
under  a  stern,  inexorable  law,  that  knows  only  to 
command.  "  Do  this,  and  thou  shalt  live,"  are  the 
kindest  words  it  is  ever  heard  to  utter ;  and  with 
these  must  be  coupled  its  other  announcement : 
"  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continues  not  in  all  things 
written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them."  There 
is  awful  meaning  in  this,  but  no  living  power  to  re- 
new the  soul.  It  may  harass  and  frighten  me,  and 
compel  me  to  engage  in  the  external  drudgery  of 
religion,  but  can  never  inspire  holy  love,  without 
which  obedience  is  a  solemn  mockery. 

Fourthly.  In  Christ  is  light  and  truth  for  the  guid- 
ance of  his  people.  Among  the  dismal  effects  of  our 
apostasy,  not  the  least  is  the  almost  brutal  ignorance 
in  which  our  race  is  plunged  on  subjects  of  the 
deepest  and  most  commanding  interest.  There  is, 
indeed,  a  species  of  knowledge  in  which  great  ad- 
vances have  been  made,  and  to  which  we  would 
award  due  praise.  In  reference  to  our  earthly  con- 
dition and  the  improvement  of  the  conveniences  of 
living,  its  value  is  great.  Yet,  what  a  poor,  abject, 
worthless  thing  is  secular  science,  carried  to  the  high- 
est point  of  cultivation,  when  brought  to  bear  on  our 
higher  nature  as  moral  agents,  and  our  eternal  desti- 
nation !     What  instruction  does  it  communicate  con- 


348  SERMONS. 

cerning  the  great  Being  who  made  us  ?  What,  con- 
cerning the  method  of  securing  his  favor  ?  What, 
concerning  the  proper  end  of  our  existence  ?  What, 
concerning  our  future  immortality  ?  On  all  these 
subjects  it  makes  no  pretensions  to  be  our  guide.  It 
cannot  even  save  us  from  the  abyss  of  atheism^  as 
too  many  facts  painfully  demonstrate.  Yes  !  hiiman 
science  can  look  up  into  the  heavens,  and  expound 
the  movements  of  those  shining  orbs  that  roll  their 
ceaseless  round  through  the  void  immense.  But  its 
dim  eye  sees  little  more  than  matter  in  'perpetual 
agitation^  —  an  eternal  whirl  of  senseless  atoms 
jostling  each  other  as  they  blindly  rush  through  fields 
of  ether,  and  assuming  new  forms,  as  chance  or  fate 
determine ;  while  the  intelligent  Author  of  all  the 
order  and  beauty  they  exhibit  is  so  faintly  recognized 
that  it  has  been  known  to  douht  his  personal  existence, 
and  resolve  the  proofs  of  his  ever-present  energy  into 
a  blind,  mechanical  necessity.  Let  one  example  suf- 
fice :     "  I   DO    NOT   BELIEVE    IN    THE    HYPOTHESIS    OF   A 

Deity,"  deliberately  asserts  the  most  commanding 
intellect  of  ancient  or  modern  times ;  the  man  who, 
carrying  out  the  conceptions  of  Newton,  has  given  a 
complete  system  of  the  physical  universe,  pushing 
demonstration  to  such  a  dizzy  height  that  the  pro- 
foundest  mathematician  pants  in  the  mere  attempt  to 
follow  him  in  his  magnificent  course.  '^  I  do  not  be- 
lieve in  the  hypothesis  of  a  Deity, ^^  says  the  illus- 
trious La  Place,  in  the  preface  to  his  immortal  work. 
Yes  ;  after  erecting  the  proudest  monument  of  the 
strength  of  human  intellect  ever  exhibited  to  the 
eyes  of  men,  —  after   exerting   a  power  of  genius 


SER310NS.  349 

almost  divine  in  explaining  the  wonderful  mechanism 
of  nature,^ this  demigod  of  science  calmly  sits 
down  and  acknowledges  (0  most  lame  and  impotent 
conclusion !)  that  "  he  does  not  believe  in  the  hy- 
pothesis of  a  Deity."  Incredible  and  horrible  as  this 
may  seem,  it  is  the  fact ;  and  I  cite  it  as  a  specimen 
of  the  thick  darkness  that  broods  over  the  natural 
mind  till  enlightened  by  grace,  and  which  all  the 
lights  of  science,  so  far  from  dissipating,  seem  only 
to  render,  in  many  cases  at  least,  tenfold  more  ter- 
rific. 

But,  blessed  be  God  !  we  are  not  left  to  the  blank 
despair  that  would  overspread  the  soul  had  we  no 
other  clue  through  the  mazes  of  our  condition  than 
the  teachings  of  human  science.  There  is  a  sun 
in  the  moral  firmament,  and  Jesus  Christ  is  that  sun. 
"  I  am  the  light  of  the  world,"  he  declares;  "  he  that 
followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall 
have  the  light  of  life."  Being  constituted  by  God 
his  visible  representative  and  the  interpreter  of  his 
will,  treasures  of  true  wisdom,  of  sublime  and  ex- 
alted knowledge,  are  hid  in  him.  Perfectly  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  thoughts  and  purposes  of  the 
Father  (for  he  lay  from  eternity  in  his  bosom,  and 
was  fitted  therefore  to  reveal  all  that  was  in  his 
heart),  he  has  communicated  out  of  the  fulness  of 
his  knowledge  as  much  as  mankind  need  to  the 
possession  of  true  happiness  in  the  present  world,  and 
everlasting  felicity  in  the  next,  which  he  has  em- 
bodied in  that  most  blessed  of  all  books,  the  Bible  : 
for  the  spirit  which  moved  holy  men  of  old,  they  re- 
ceived from  him,  the  Great  Prophet,  —  "  the  Angel  of 

30 


350  si:rmons. 

the  Covenant,"  who  is  set  forth  to  be  a  "  light  to  the 
Gentiles,  a  salvation  to  the  ends  of  the  earth."  He 
alone  has  confirmed  and  sealed  the  fundamental 
doctrine  of  one  God  and  Parent  of  all,  —  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost :  for  "  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any 
time ;  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  he  hath 
declared  him."  He  alone  has  informed  us  of  the 
true  origin  of  the  world,  delineated  the  happy  con- 
dition of  primeval  man,  and  accounted  for  the  en- 
trance of  sin  into  this  fair  universe.  He  alone  has 
unfolded  the  depravity  of  the  human  heart  in  all  its 
terrible  depth ;  awakened  the  world  from  its  deceit- 
ful dreams,  and  told  of  high  Heaven's  controversy 
with  it.  He  alone  has  announced  a  remedy,  and 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light.  But  he  does 
more  than  this.  He  not  only  teaches,  but  applies  his 
instructions,  making  them  effectual,  and  impressive, 
so  that  they  penetrate  the  soul,  shedding  over  it  a 
warming,  captivating  influence  which  it  cannot  re- 
sist, and  yet  to  which  it  sweetly  and  spontaneously 
yields.  The  darkened  understanding  becomes  light 
in  the  Lord,  the  deaf  are  compelled  to  hear,  and  the 
blind  cannot  choose  but  see  clearly.  Though  he  does 
not  always  make  his  people  wise  in  the  sense  attached 
to  wisdom  by  the  world,  he  makes  them  wise  in  God's 
meaning  of  it,  —  wise  unto  salvation ;  for  "  Unto  them 
it  is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  He  teaches  them  the  evil  of  sin,  the 
beauty  of  holiness.  He  so  instructs  them  in  princi- 
ples of  duty,  in  the  divine  art  of  happy  living, 
that  they  are  enabled  to  avoid  every  snare,  extricate 
themselves  from  every  embarrassment  that  threatens 


SERMONS.  851 

their  comfort,  and  walk  in  a  perpetual  sunshine. 
Often  does  the  Christian,  perplexed  as  to  the  course 
which  in  a  given  instance  he  should  pursue,  hear  his 
guiding  voice  behind  him,  saying,  "  This  is  the  way, 
walk  thou  in  it,"  with  such  distinctness  and  evidence 
of  reality  that  he  can  scarce  resist  the  impression  that 
it  falls  on  his  bodily  ear. 

Sitting  at  the  feet  of  such  an  Instructor,  he  can 
afford  to  be  ignorant  of  many  things,  the  knowledge 
of  which  is  coveted  by  not  a  few  as  the  perfection  of 
wisdom.  He  may  be  a  babe  in  the  modern  astron- 
omy, yet  he  walks  among  the  stars  for  all  that.  When 
he  looks  up  to  the  magnificent  canopy  above  his 
head,  he  can  answer  questions  which  the  far-reaching 
intellect  of  a  La  Place  could  not.  "  Who  created 
all  these ;  who  brought  out  their  host  by  number ; 
who  calleth  them  all  by  names,  by  the  greatness 
of  his  might,  not  one  faileth."  He  may  have  never 
heard  of  the  existence  of  Saturn's  ring,  nor  calculated 
the  motions  of  a  comet,  nor  conjectured  the  distance 
of  the  nearest  fixed  star,  nor  philosophized  on  tele- 
scopic nebulae ;  but  he  has  a  science  that  laughs  to 
scorn  such  pitiful  speculations ;  that  soars  beyond 
planets,  suns,  and  systems  piled  on  systems,  turning 
its  back  on  the  most  distant  orb  that  twinkles  on  the 
verge  of  created  being,  nor  drops  its  wing  till,  arrived 
at  the  eternal  throne,  it  nestles  in  the  uncreated  efful- 
gence of  the  Godhead.  He  may  have  no  acquaint- 
ance with  mineralogy,  or  fossils,  —  possibly  may  stare 
on  being  told  that  one  stone  of  our  muddy  planet 
differs  from  another.  But  this  cannot  seriously  dis- 
compose the  man  to  whom  Christ  has  given  the  "  new 


352  SERMONS 

stone,  and  on  the  stone  a  new  name  written,  which 
no  man  knoweth,save  he  that  receiveth  it."  He  may 
be  no  chemist,  but  he  is  a  profound  alchemist ;  for  he 
has  tlie  art  of  transmuting  everything  he  touches  into 
gold.  He  may  show  very  little  scholarship  in  talking 
of  the  furniture  of  the  house ;  but  he  is  the  bosom- 
friend  and  intimate  of  the  Master,  which  argues  a 
higher  wisdom,  as  well  as  nobler  dignity.  He  may 
boast  of  few  books,  and  his  library  be  as  scanty  as  his 
wardrobe ;  but  one  volume  he  possesses  from  whose 
constant  study  he  derives  a  lore,  compared  with 
which,  the  whole  cyclopedia  of  science  is  a  vast  conti- 
nent of  impertinency,  worthless  as  the  dirt  beneath  his 
feet.  We  admire  the  stupendous  folios  to  which  the 
erudition  of  a  single  man  has  given  birth.  But  there 
is  more  learning,  truth,  eloquence,  and  lofty  intellect 
in  the  short  broken  prayer  of  a  poor  old  woman,  who, 
though  unable  to  write  her  name,  keeps  herself  in 
daily  communion  with  her  Saviour,  than  in  all  the 
mountains  of  blotted  paper  that  load  the  shelves  of 
the  Bodleian  library.  "  What  are  you  repeating 
so  often  ? "  inquired  a  literary  gentleman  of  his 
ignorant,  but  pious  servant-maid,  who  was  continu- 
ally reciting  her  prayers  while  engaged  in  her  domes- 
tic avocations.  "The  Lord's  prayer,"  she  replied. 
"  But  the  Lord's  prayer  is  very  short,"  he  rejoined ; 
"you  can  soon  finish  that."  "Yes,  sir,"  was  her 
answer ;  "  but  I  always  begin  again !  0  master, 
what  ideas  of  the  power,  wisdom  and  goodness  of  my 
God  are  shut  up  in  those  four  single  words, —  our 
Father,  who  art  in  heaven."  What  think  you  of  this 
poor  girl  ?    Was  she  not  a  fine  scholar  ?    Was  she  not 


SERMONS.  353 

qualified  to  open  an  academy  which  many  a  goAvned 
professor  might  have  attended  with  infinite  advan- 
tage ?  But  so  it  is  and  ever  will  be.  "  I  thank  thee, 
0  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,"  exclaims  our 
Redeemer,  "  because  thou  hast  hid  these  things  from 
the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed  them  unto 
babes." 

Fifthly.    There    are    in    Christ   inexhaustible    re- 
sources  for   preserving    and   defending   the    objects 
of  his  saving  grace.     This  necessarily  follows  from 
his  solemn  inauguration  to  the  office  of  king  of  Zion. 
For  being  anointed  Prince  of  Peace  and  head  over 
all  things  to  the  church,  he  must  possess  the  amplest 
qualifications  for  the  high  duties  of  his  function  ;  one 
and  not  the  least  of  which  is  the  protection  of  his 
subjects.    Otherwise  he  would  be  no  king.    He  would 
be  one  of  those  poor  phantoms  of  royalty,  who  bear 
the  name  and  hold  the  diadem,  while  on  account 
of  their  real  insignificance  they  are  objects  of  general 
pity  and  contempt.     But  Christ  is  truly  and  in  the 
fullest  sense  a  monarch,  having  all  power  given  him  in 
heaven  and  in  earth.     Though  his  bodily  presence  is 
withdrawn  from  us,  his  eye  runs  to  and  fro  through 
creation ;   his  right  arm  circles   the   universe,   and 
every   subject  of  his   gracious   rule   is   kept  in  the 
hollow  of  his  hand.     He  has  an  army,  too  !    At  his 
side  stands  a  countless  host  of  burning  angels,  listen- 
ing to  the  voice  of  his  word,  ready  at  his  nod  to  wing 
their  rapid  flight  for  the  protection  of  his  people  and 
the   discomfiture   of  aliens.     So  exact   and  minute 
is  the  superintendence  which  he  exercises,  that  not  a 
hair  of  our  head  falls  to  the  ground  without  a  permis- 

30* 


354  SERMONS. 

sive  edict:  such  its  extent,  that  the  follower  of  the 
cross,  banished  to  the  remotest  desert  or  shivering 
amid  Arctic  snows,  is  as  safe  as  if  he  were  ah^eady 
singing  the  new  song  before  the  throne ;  such  its 
perpetuity,  that  not  one  has  been  lost. 

How  illustriously  did  he  display  this  power  in 
the  defence  of  his  infant  church  !  Launched  a  feeble 
bark,  with  the  most  helpless  and  timid  of  crews, 
on  a  stormy  sea,  it  gallantly  made  its  way  through 
the  rocks  and  billows  that  every  moment  threatened 
its  destruction ;  proving  by  its  miraculous  preserva- 
tion that  an  omnipotent  pilot  was  at  the  helm,  whom 
even  the  winds  and  waves  obeyed ;  who,  if  he  some- 
times seemed  to  sleep,  always  awoke  in  the  hour  of 
greatest  peril,  and  commanded  them,  "•  Peace ;  be 
still. '^  It  has  now  expanded  into  a  large  and  stately 
ark,  filled  with  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 
happy  spirits  plucked  from  the  raging  waters,  and  is 
gently  sailing  down  the  river  of  life,  receiving  from 
day  to  day  new  myriads  of  redeemed  from  every 
nation  and  kindred  and  tongue  and  people.  All  the 
agitations  of  states  and  empires  have  been  made  sub- 
servient to  its  interests.  Dynasties  have  risen  and 
fallen,  like  the  leaves  of  autumn ;  nations  have 
passed  on  and  off  the  scene  of  action ;  the  church, 
the  frail,  apparently  helpless  church,  like  the  bush  in 
Horeb  burning  but  not  consumed,  has  survived  them 
all,  and  continues  to  subsist  with  increasing  glory,  a 
monument  of  the  faithfulness  and  efficiency  of  its 
Divine  Protector.  We  have  reason  to  believe,  how- 
ever, that  the  greatest  exhibition  of  tliese  attributes 
is  yet  to  come.     A  period  is  approaching,  when  his 


SER3I0NS,  355 

sceptre  shall  not  be  limited  by  the  paltry  boundaries 
which  at  present  confine  it  to  a  small  portion  of  the 
habitable  globe  ;  but  extend  from  sea  to  sea,  and 
from  the  river  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Enemies 
shall  be  prostrated ;  kings  who  will  refuse  to  be  nurs- 
ing fathers,  and  queens  nursing  mothers  to  the 
church,  shall  be  hurled  from  their  seats  of  greatness, 
and  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  coalesce  in  one 
kingdom  of  righteousness,  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost.  That  the  course  of  events  in  the  world  does 
not  immediately  promise  such  an  issue,  —  that  numer- 
ous and  in  the  view  of  reason  unenlightened  by  faith 
appalling  difficulties  are  in  the  way,  —  we  concede 
freely.  "  But  who  art  thou,  0  great  mountain  ? 
Before  the  conquering  Immanuel  thou  shalt  become 
a  plain  ;  and  he  will  bring  forth  the  headstone  with 
shoutings,  crying  Grace,  grace  unto  it !  "  "  Not  by 
might  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord 
of  hosts." 

Here  is  the  true  foundation  on  which  rest  all  our 
hopes  of  an  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  our 
race.  You  read  and  hear  much  in  our  day  of  the 
astonishing  improvements  of  the  age,  the  march  of 
science  and  the  arts,  the  decay  of  ancient  prejudices, 
the  progress  of  free  institutions,  the  dissemination  of 
intelligence  among  all  classes  of  society.  Progress  ! 
You  are  reminded  of  the  wonderful  achievements  of 
the  press,  the  steam-engine,  the  spinning-jenny.  You 
are  told  that  the  schoolmaster  is  abroad.  In  short, 
we  are  invited  to  believe  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a 
great  philosophical  millennium,  which  will  more  than 
realize  the  fondest  dreams  of  the  poet  and  the  sage 


356  SEHMONS. 

concerning  the  perfectibility  of  man  !     Dreams  I  have 
called  them.     Dreams  they  truly  are  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be  till  our  great  globe  shall  cease  to  roll. 
They  overlook  a  solemn  and  momentous  fact,  never 
to  be  lost  sight  of  in  speculations  concerning  the  per- 
fectibility of  man,  because  it  solves  the  problem,  at 
once  and  forever,  in  the  negative,  —  the  innate  and 
radical  depravity  of  the  human  soul,  virhich  no  ex- 
ternal agency  can  reach,  and  which,  we  have  reason 
to  fear,  will  only  assume  more  portentous  forms  of 
mischief  as   the   intellect  is   developed.      Will   any 
man  soberly  assert  that  the  onward  movement  of  our 
utilitarian  age  is  to  a  higher  spiritual  life,  to  a  purer 
morality,  to  a  more  ardent   love  of  truth,  to  more 
earnest  aspirations  after  the  good,  the  beautiful,  the 
divine  ?     Standing,  as  we   are,  in   the  midst  of  the 
agitated  and  heaving  mass,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  un- 
wise to  predict,  with  confidence,  the  issue.     But  one 
thing  is  certain,  that  there  is  little  promise  of  a  re- 
sult that  will   satisfy  the  philanthropist.     The  pros- 
pect may  be,  that  a  new  cycle  in  the  affairs  of  men  is 
approaching ;  but  we  sadly  mistake  the  omens  that 
meet  us  on  every  side,  if  it  be  not  a  cycle  of  gigantic 
wickedness,  purged,  indeed,  of  the  grossness  of  by- 
gone ages,  —  smooth,  plausible,  brilliant  as  the  hue 
of  the  serpent,  —  disguising  its  turpitude  by  refine- 
ments unknown  to  our  simple  forefathers,  but  sur- 
passing all  former  iniquity  in  its  utter  destitution  of 
principle  and  its  corrupting  tendencies. 

There  is  but  one  hope  for  us,  and  that  is  the  hope 
of  the  blessed  Gospel.  We  are  a  race  redeemed  hy 
Christ.     The  seal  of  a  high  predestination  is  upon 


SERMONS.  357 

US,  and  the  Mighty  One  entrusted  with  its  execution 
is  ah-eady  seated  at  the  Father's  right  hand.  "  I 
saw,"  says  the  inspired  seer,  wrapt  in  mystic  vision, 
"  one  like  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven;  and  there  was  given  him  dominion,  and 
glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people,  nations,  and 
languages  should  serve  him.  His  dominion  is  an  ever- 
lasting dominion  which  shall  not  pass  away,  and  his 
kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed."  That 
is  it !  Meanwhile,  and  till  the  period  of  fulfilment, 
he  permits  his  future  domain  to  be  the  subject  of  an 
endless  variety  of  experiments,  whose  shameful  and 
disastrous  issue  will  enhance  the  splendor  of  his  final 
triumph.  He  hides  his  time,  and  when  the  appointed 
moment  arrives,  woe  to  the  worm  that  stands  up  to 
oppose  his  progress ! 

Lastly  ;  there  is  in  Christ  a  communicative  fulness 
of  glory  and  happiness,  which  he  bestows  on  his  re- 
deemed when  the  conflicts  and  trials  of  the  present 
life  are  ended.  As  all  power  is  given  him  in  heaven 
as  well  as  earth,  we  cannot  doubt  that  those  whom 
he  loved  here  below  he  will  introduce  into  the  man- 
sions of  the  upper  house.  This  is  delightfully  ex- 
pressed in  the  assurance  given  by  him  to  John  in  the 
first  Apocalyptic  vision :  "  Fear  not ;  I  am  the  first 
and  the  last ;  I  am  he  that  liveth  and  was  dead  and 
am  alive  for  evermore,  and  have  the  keys  of  hell  and 
of  death."  Our  translation  has  unhappily  rendered  the 
passage  in  a  way  that  greatly  detracts  from  its  force 
and  beauty.  When  we  hear  the  Redeemer  assert- 
ing that  he  has  the  keys  of  hell  and  death,  we  can 
scarce  avoid  supposing  him  to  have  the  custody  only 


358  SEE3fONI3. 

of  the  place  of  torment,  —  the  right  and  power  of 
executing  on  the  impenitent  the  sentence  of  eternal 
justice.  But  this  is  not  the  meaning  of  the  expres- 
sion. It  cannot  be  ;  for  where  would  be  the  sweet 
comfort  of  the  statement,  or  the  appropriateness  and 
point  of  the  argument  ?  There  seems  little  propriety 
in  encouraging  the  apostle  "  not  to  fear,"  when  all 
the  reason  assigned  is,  that  Christ  is  the  jailer  of 
devils,  —  the  dread  janitor  of  the  bottomless  pit. 
The  word  translated  "  hell,"  should  not  have  been  so 
translated.  It  denotes  the  invisible  world  in  general, 
—  the  whole  condition  of  departed  spirits,  —  the 
place  of  eternal  happiness  as  well  as  that  of  eternal 
misery  and  despair.  Of  both  these  great  compart- 
ments, he  hath  the  keys ;  iii  other  words,  the  entire 
disposal ;  and  the  passage  has  special  reference  to 
the  former.  The  portals  of  the  celestial  kingdom 
are  committed  to  him,  which  he  opens  and  no  man  can 
shut,  —  shuts  and  no  man  can  open.  In  connection 
with  this,  another  key  is  given  him,  the  Jcei/  of  death. 
The  time  and  all  the  circumstances  of  this  solemn 
event  are  put  into  his  hands,  and  arranged  by  him 
with  the  utmost  accuracy.  He  stands  at  the  sick-bed 
of  the  dying  saint,  sustains  his  sinking  courage  in 
the  terrible  conflict ;  at  the  proper  moment  gives  the 
signal  of  dismission,  when  a  band  of  angels  trans- 
port him  to  the  heavenly  city  which,  by  virtue  of  the 
same  divine  prerogative,  opens  its  golden  gates, 
through  which  the  enraptured  spirit  enters  ;  all  heaven 
ringing  with  welcome  and  joyful  acclamation.  Ac- 
cordingly, we  hear  the  Redeemer,  in  his  last  inter- 
cessory prayer,  addressing  his  Father  on  this  subject 


SERMONS.  359 

with  all  the  confidence  of  one  who  knew  that  he  was 
possessed  of  this  wonderful  dominion.  "  Father,  I 
will.''''  Mark  the  emphasis,  I  was  about  to  say  the 
tone  of  high  command,  with  which  he  urges  his  peti- 
tion. He  uses  not  the  language  of  entreaty,  nor  be- 
trays the  least  consciousness  that  by  any  possibility  the 
prayer  might  be  denied.  It  is  the  Lord  of  the  quick 
and  dead  who  speaks,  reminding  the  Father  of  his  cov- 
enant rights.  It  is  the  great  Mediator  with  the  keys 
of  the  invisible  world  at  his  girdle  :  "  Father,  I  will, 
that  they  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me 
where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold  my  glory." 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  fulness  that  dwells  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Allow  me  to  conclude  with 
some  remarks  by  way  of  improvement. 

We  here  see  the  important  place  in  the  Christian 
system  that  is  occupied  by  the  Redeemer.  Is  it  so, 
that  he,  in  his  mediatorial  character,  is  the  reposi- 
tory of  all  blessings  for  the  children  of  men  ?  Has 
it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all  fulness 
dwell?  Then,  the  church  will  never  gain  by  a 
Christless  Christianity,  and  all  endeavors  to  impress 
on  it  such  a  character  will  be  as  prejudicial  to  im- 
mortal souls,  as  it  is  insulting  to  the  divine  Author  of 
this  constitution.  He  is  the  life;  the  animating,  con- 
trolling, central  principle  of  Bible  theology ;  and  what 
the  body  is  without  the  soul,  that  religion  is  without 
him  as  the  Alpha  and  Omega.  He  is  the  only  me- 
dium through  which  we  can  see  God  and  live.  By 
his  blood  we  are  purchased,  by  his  Spirit  regenerated, 
by  his  grace  sanctified,  preserved,  glorified. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  dwell 


360  SERMONS. 

on  Christ.  No  wonder  that,  when  he  is  the  theme, 
the  harp  of  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel  sends  forth  its 
most  ravishing  notes,  and  his  tongue  becomes  as  the 
pen  of  a  ready  writer.  No  wonder  that  we  hear 
such  language  as  this  from  the  lips  of  Paul :  "  For 
me  to  live  is  Christ ;  yea,  doubtless,  I  count  all  things 
but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus  my  Lord."  Nothing,  indeed,  strikes  so  forci- 
bly, in  the  writings  of  this  great  apostle,  as  the  deep, 
heartfelt  delight  with  which  he  expatiates  on  the 
glory,  the  beauty,  the  loveliness,  and  preciousness  of 
his  Saviour's  character.  Truly  has  it  been  said, 
"  Christ  is  the  gospel's  sum,  substance,  end,  and  all. 
Without  Christ,  the  gospel  has  no  meaning.  Of  all 
riddles,  it  is  the  most  perplexing ;  of  all  impositions, 
it  is  the  most  deceptive.  It  is  a  cloud  without  water, 
a  shadow  without  substance,  a  bod^  without  a  soul!  " 

Unhappily,  there  are  not  a  few  who,  without  for- 
mally disavowing  their  belief  in  Christianity,  seem  to 
have  no  love  or  esteem  for  this,  its  fundamental 
truth.  They  do  not  understand,  they  say,  why  God 
should  convey  his  blessings  to  us  through  the  me- 
dium of  another.  They  prefer  dealing  with  the 
great  Parent  himself,  —  expecting  everything  from 
his  benignity,  —  and  will  not  dishonor  him  by  sup- 
posing that  he  needs  an  almoner  to  distribute  his 
fatherly  bounty,  or  an  intercessor  to  disarm  him  of 
his  wrath.  Bold  and  wicked  language,  betraying  the 
grossest  ignorance  of  the  ways  of  God  and  their  own 
character  !  Is  it  not  a  fact  that,  in  communicating 
his  blessings,  he  has  always  employed  intermediate 
agency  ?     What  comfort  or  privilege   do  we  enjoy 


SERMONS.  '  361 

that  we  did  not  receive  from  some  one  to  whom  the 
trust  is  delegated  of  bestowing  it  ?  Our  parents,  are 
they  not  almoners,  appointed  to  nurse,  feed,  clothe, 
defend,  and  educate  us,  —  by  whose  tender  cares  we 
are  fitted  to  act  our  part  in  life,  and  perform  similar 
duties  to  those  who  come  after  us  ?  Are  we  not  in- 
debted, every  hour  and  moment  of  our  lives,  to  the 
good  offices  of  others  ?  Could  we  live  without  our 
fellow-beings  ?  What  would  become  of  us  in  a  sin- 
gle day,  if,  under  the  absurd  pretext  of  receiving 
favors  directly  from  the  hand  of  God,  we  rejected 
their  assistance.  Poverty,  disease,  and  wretchedness 
in  every  form,  would  soon  bring  down  our  haughty 
spirits,  and  make  us  thankfully  betake  to  the  earthly 
fountains  in  which  Heaven  has  deposited  its  mercy. 
In  precisely  the  same  way  has  God  always  adminis- 
tered the  concerns  of  his  redeemed  church.  When 
he  delivered  Israel  from  Egypt,  and  organized  it  into 
a  nation,  it  was  hi/  his  servant  Moses,  whom  the  peo- 
ple were  commanded  to  hear  on  pain  of  exclusion 
from  covenant  blessings.  When  he  healed  the  bites 
of  the  poisonous  animals  that  wrought  destruction 
through  their  camp,  it  was  by  means  of  a  brazen  ser- 
pent, erected  on  a  pole  before  the  eyes  of  the  whole 
congregation.  When  he  rescued  his  people  from  iur 
vading  enemies,  it  was  by  judges  and  illustrious  war- 
riors, whom  he  raised  up  for  the  purpose,  whose 
hearts  he  filled  with  invincible  courage,  and  whose 
efforts  he  crowned  with  victory.  And  shall  we  ques- 
tion God's  right  to  establish  a  similar  arrangement, 
so  harmonizing  with  all  his  other  dealings  in  relation 
to  our  immortal  interests  ?     Shall  we  refuse  to  honor 

31 


362  SERMONS. 

his  own  Eternal  Son  in  whom  air  the  Father  shines  ; 
united  to  us,  as  he  is,  by  the  possession  of  the  same 
human  nature,  and  having  all  the  tender  sympathies 
of  an  elder  brother  ?  I  say,  shall  we  dare  to  pour 
contempt  on  this  magnificent  ordinance  of  salvation 
because  it  is  our  particular  desire  that  no  medium 
interpose  between  us  and  the  uncreated  Godhead  ? 

Alas  !  you  know  not  what  you  ask,  nor  what  spirit 
you  are  of.  You  cannot  see  the  great  and  terrible 
God  in  his  absolute  majesty,  and  live. 

Equally  impossible  is  it  to  yield  obedience  to  the 
divine  will  without  such  an  intervention.  Men  have 
attempted  it.  They  have  sought,  by  refined  specula- 
tion on  the  beauty  of  virtue  and  the  deformity  of 
vice,  assisted  by  motives  based  on  the  ideas  of  everlast- 
ing punishment  and  reward,  to  acquire  that  state  of 
moral  affection  which  is  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God. 
But  they  have  never  succeeded.  Their  loftiest  flights 
have  always  terminated  in  utter  discomfiture.  The 
more  they  attempted  to  dam  up  the  mighty  fountain 
of  corruption,  the  higher  it  rose  and  the  more  dread- 
ful was  the  inundation  that  followed.  Man  is  dead 
in  sin!  Deserted  by  the  spirit  of  life,  given  up 
to  his  own  sordid  and  earthly  impulses,  he  may,  by  a 
spasmodic  and  desperate  effort,  succeed  in  perform- 
ing a  few  external  acts  which  shall  possess  a  certain 
appearance  of  moral  worth.  But  they  are  apioles  of 
Sodom  and  grapes  of  Gomorrah  ;  fair  and  promising  to 
the  eye,  while  worms  and  rottenness  are  at  the  core. 
Nothing  but  the  transforming  energy  of  the  grace 
of  Christ  can  make  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
death.     It  is   the   cross   alone,  that  can  crucify  the 


SERMONS.  363 

world,  and  by  which  the  world  is  crucified  to  us. 
From  the  sacred  Victim,  whom  it  exhibits  to  the  eye 
of  faith,  flows  a  stream,  not  only  of  blood,  but  pure 
living  water,  that  washes  all  our  stains  away,  and 
fits  for  angelic  joys.  Look  at  the  experience  of  the 
holy  and  blessed  Paul.  Who  exceeded  him  in  ear- 
nest endeavors  to  obtain  a  righteousness  which  should 
approve  itself  to  an  enlightened  conscience  while 
stranger  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  He  struggled  with 
sin  as  with  a  demon,  —  fasted,  prayed,  attended,  with 
painful  scrupulosity,  to  every  Levitical  observance, 
—  neglected  no  expedient  that  promised  a  successful 
issue.  In  the  days  of  his  youthful  thoughtlessness, 
he  flattered  himself  that  his  labor  was  not  entirely  in 
vain.  But  when  the  commandment  came,  when  the 
holy  law  began  to  speak  in  thunder,  and  its  lightnings 
flashed  on  his  awakened  religious  sensibility,  he  found 
that  ho  had  been  the  victim  of  a  terrible  delusion. 
To  use  his  own  expressive  language,  "  Sin  revived 
and  I  died."  The  description  he  gives  of  this  un- 
happy contest,  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Romans,  is 
one  of  the  most  graphic  and  thrilling  narratives  ever 
penned.  "  0  wretched  man  !  "  lie  exclaims,  at  the 
close,  "  who  shall  deliver  me  from  this  body  of  sin 
and  death  ?  "  He  seems  utterly  exhausted.  His 
breast  heaves  with  unutterable  agony,  and  he  is  on 
the  point  of  breathing  his  last  sigh,  when,  behold  the 
sign  in  the  heavens — his  Saviour's  cross!  Instantly, 
the  darkness  breaks  away,  he  feels  the  sweet  and 
serene  breathings  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  infusing  new 
life  in  every  faculty,  —  penetrating,  warming,  exalting 
him,  —  letting  heaven  itself  into   his   soul,  and  he 


364  SERMONS. 

cries  out  with  a  burst  of  triumph,  wondering  at  the 
change  he  has  experienced,  "  I  thank  God,  through 
Jesus  Christ  my  Lord." 

Try  the  expedient  of  this  glorified  spirit.  Try  it, 
thou  conscience-burdened  sinner,  trembling  at  the 
thought  of  appearing  before  a  ju.st  God,  and  anx- 
iously casting  about  for  a  righteousness  to  cover  thee 
in  his  presence.  Try  it,  thou  anxious  spirit,  who, 
feeling  the  necessity  of  a  far  higher  reach  of  holi- 
ness than  any  hitherto  attained,  art  seeking  for  it  as 
for  hid  treasure ;  though,  alas,  condemned  to  perpetual 
disappointment.  Soon  the  clouds  shall  disappear, 
and  thou  shalt  settle  down  in  the  calm  peace  of  faith. 
Oh,  the  blessedness  of  looking  unto  Jesus,  away  from 
every  other  hope  !  What  a  delightful  sense  of  se- 
curity fills  the  mind  !  What  confidence  before  God  ! 
What  alacrity  in  duty  !  What  unshaken  courage  in 
the  hour  of  danger  !  What  triumph  in  death  !  It  is 
this,  and  nothing  but  this,  that  can  carry  us  through 
the  billows  of  Jordan.  In  that  solemn  hour,  when 
the  world,  with  all  its  vain  illusions,  fades  from  the 
view,  when  eternity  is  on  the  point  of  unveiling  its 
awful  secrets,  when  the  thought  presses  heavy  on  the 
spirit,  how  shall  I  stand  before  the  dread  Being  whom 
I  have  so  often  offended  ?  —  we  shall  all  feel  the 
unutterable  preciousness  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a 
Daysman  between  us  and  offended  justice.  "  What 
are  you  doing  ?  '*  said  a  clerical  brother  to  a 
pious  and  venerable  clergyman  whom  he  visited  on 
his  death-bed.  "  What  am  I  doing  ?  "  replied  the 
gasping  but  rejoicing  saint.  "  I  will  tell  you  what 
I  am  doing,  brother.     I  am   gathering  together  all 


SERMONS,  365 

mj  prayers,  all  my  sermons,  all  my  good  deeds,  all 
my  ill  deeds,  and  I  am  going  to  throw  them  all 
overboard,  and  swim  to  glory  on  the  planh  of  free 
graced  The  good  old  man  knew  the  secret  of  his 
strength. 

31» 


The  Consideration  of  Death. 


XYI. 

THE  CONSIDERATION  OF  DEATH, 


Deut.  32 ;  29.     STi^at  lI)fD  bjouIJj  tonsibtr  ll^fir  lalltr  tub. 


HESE  words  are  part  of  the  final  address  of 
Moses  to  the  Israelites,  whom  he  had  assem- 
bled to  receive  his  parting  benediction.  He 
knew  the  levity  and  deceitfulness  of  their 
hearts.  From  a  thousand  facts  which  had  occurred 
before  his  eyes,  he  knew  that  they  would  in  a  short 
time  apostatize  from  the  Lord,  and  draw  down  his 
burning  displeasure.  While,  therefore,  he  tenderly 
blesses  them,  he  intermingles  the  most  affecting  warn- 
ings and  admonitions. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  the  exhortation  before  us 
docs  not  immediately  relate  to  the  death  of  individ- 
uals, but  to  the  fates  and  fortunes  of  the  nation  at 
large,  on  which  he  had  been  discoursing  in  the  pre- 
vious context.  Yet  it  will  bear  the  former  interpreta- 
tion, and  we  do  no  violence  to  Scripture  in  making 
this  view  the  basis  of  our  intended  remarks.  Doubt- 
less it  was  in  the  mind  of  the  venerable  legislator  as 
well  as  the  other.  He  had  just  received  the  intima- 
tion that  his  departure  was  at  hand,  and  hourly  ex- 
pected the  call.  Suspended  thus  between  life  and 
death,  realizing  the  vanity  of  the  former,  the  cer- 


370  SERMOAS. 

tainty  and  awfiiliiess  of  the  latter,  with  what  yearn- 
ings of  heart  must  he  have  regarded  the  immense 
multitude  spread  before  him  at  the  foot  of  the  emi- 
nence where  he  stood !  Each  was  like  himself,  im- 
mortal,—  each  like  himself  naked  to  the  arrows  of 
the  king  of  terrors.  They  were  his  brethren ;  the 
bone  of  his  bone,  flesh  of  his  flesh ;  yet  they  were 
spending  their  precious  hours  in  a  round  of  idle 
gayety  and  folly,  dancing  on  the  brink  of  destiny, 
without  sending  a  thought  beyond  the  present  mo- 
ment. Filled  with  pity  and  alarm,  we  may  suppose 
that  he  breaks  forth  into  the  exclamation,  "  Oh  that 
they  were  wise  that  they  understood  this,  that  they 
would  consider  their  latter  end  !  " 

This  is  a  subject  which  concerns  you  all.  I  have 
nothing  to  say  upon  it  that  is  new,  but  much  that 
is  calculated  to  be  practically  useful,  and  of  which 
you  ought  frequently  to  be  reminded.  The  truths 
which  have  been  uttered  a  thousand  times  and  have 
become  mere  household  words  by  repetition,  are  pre- 
cisely those  which  we  are  in  greatest  danger  of  for- 
getting. Nor  does  their  perfect  self-evidence  mend 
the  matter.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  to  render  them 
more  inoperative  ;  for  whose  heart  palpitates  under 
the  enunciation  of  an  axiom  ?  Thus  it  often  happens, 
I  doubt  not,  that  preachers,  having  to  a  reasonable  ex- 
tent the  confidence  of  their  congregations,  find  it 
easier  to  indoctrinate  them  in  all  the  mysteries  of 
the  Athanasian  creed,  than  convince  them,  as  they 
ought  to  be  convinced,  that  two  and  two  make  four. 

We  will  show,  in  the  first  place,  what  is  signified  by 
considering  our  latter  end. 


SERMONS,  371 

Second,  the  wisdom  of  so  doing ;  in  other  words, 
point  out  the  benefits  that  will  accrue  from  such 
an  employment  of  our  thoughts. 

As  to  the  signification  of  the  text,  it  means  in 
general  a  habit  of  serious  thoughtfiilness  on  the 
termination  of  life,  as  opposed  to  that  unreflectiye- 
ness  of  character,  that  butterfly  volatility  incapable 
of  looking  back  to  the  past  or  forward  to  the  future, 
which  prevail  so  extensively.  To  consider  a  thing  is 
to  examine  it  with  care,  studying  its  causes,  proper- 
ties, and  effects,  turning  it  over  for  this  purpose  from 
side  to  side,  viewing  it  in  one  light  and  then  another, 
till  we  have  got  a  complete  acquaintance  with  it ;  and 
this  is  the  consideration  here.  It  denotes  more  than 
a  casual  thought  extorted  by  an  incident  to  be  soon 
forgotten,  and  the  thought  along  with  it.  There 
must  be  a  habit,  a  course  of  reflection.  We  will 
frequently  bring  the  subject  near,  as  a  man  would 
something  at  a  distance  to  ascertain  what  it  is.  We 
will  investigate  its  origin,  its  import,  not  only  that 
lying  on  the  surface,  but  its  deeper  meaning,  if  it  has 
any,  and  its  probable  bearings  on  our  happiness 
and  misery.  More  particularly  we  will  view  it  as 
God's  penalty  on  transgression,  as  most  certain,  all 
its  circumstances  predetermined,  perhaps  near;  and 
lastly,  as  the  end  of  moral  trial  and  the  commence- 
ment of  eternal  retribution. 

I.  They  who  duly  consider  their  latter  end  see  in 
it  God's  penalty  on  transgression.  It  is  an  amaz- 
ing folly  of  men  which  accepts  the  belief  that  death, 
as  we  now  find  it,  is  nothing  more  than  a  physical 
event,  a   simple   phenomenon   necessarily  springing 


372  SERMONS. 

from  the  laws  of  organic  being.  To  say  that  a  man 
has  died  is,  according  to  this  philosophy,  tantamount 
to  saying  that  a  leaf  fell  from  a  tree  on  a  bleak  morn- 
ing in  November.  There  are,  indeed,  some  grains  of 
truth  in  the  view,  which  it  is  worth  while  to  separate 
from  the  falsehood,  that  science  may  be  not  suspected 
of  lending  its  countenance  to  a  superficial  infidelity. 
That  the  present  body  was  not  designed  to  be  the 
soul's  permanent  residence  is  demonstrable  from  its 
frailty,  the  grossness  of  its  functions,  and  its  evident 
subjection  to  all  the  laws  of  animal  life.  Nor  was 
the  case  different  with  our  first  parents  in  Paradise. 
Their  corporeal  organization  was  temporary,  intended 
for  a  temporary  condition.  The  race  that  was  to 
spring  from  their  loins  God  designed  to  exist  not 
simultaneously,  but  by  succession,  one  generation 
coming  and  another  going,  till  its  collective  destiny 
should  be  consummated  by  elevation  to  a  higher 
domain  of  life  and  felicity.  The  dissolution  of  the 
body,  therefore,  viewed  as  a  physical  fact,  is  not  the 
effect  of  apostasy,  but  the  operation  of  a  great  law  of 
change,  originally  impressed  like  the  law  of  propaga- 
tion. In  this  sense  man  is  born  to  die,  as  he  is 
to  live.  However  Adam  might  have  exceeded  his 
nine  hundred  years,  a  change  would  come  at  last,  and 
he  would  have  been  exalted  to  a  loftier  place  in  the 
city  of  Grod,  by  a  process  fully  equivalent  to  physical 
death.  His  body  would  have  been  given  to  the 
elements ;  the  earths  and  gases  which  compose 
it  would  have  returned  to  the  vast  storehouse  of 
nature  from  which  they  had  been  temporarily  bor- 
rowed, to  enter  again  into  new  forms  of  life,  and  thus 


SERMONS.  373 

carry  out  the  scheme  of  Providence  that  the  earth  be 
filled  with  inhabitants. 

But  while  we  cheerfully  concede  thus  much,  we 
must  observe  that  the  change  adverted  to  is  a  small 
part  of  what  we  now  call  death.  Doubtless  had  man 
remained  innocent,  it  would  have  been  accompanied 
with  every  circumstance  calculated  to  make  it  a 
blessing  instead  of  a  curse.  The  benignant  Father 
would  have  put  his  children  to  sleep  in  the  evening  of 
their  earthly  day,  in  a  way  so  gentle  as  to  be  itself 
a  happiness.  They  would  have  fallen,  like  ripe  fruit 
from  the  tree,  with  no  other  marked  sensation  than  a 
consciousness  of  growing  weakness,  which  would  have 
reconciled  them  to  their  departure,  and  even  made 
it  welcome.  Disease,  in  aggravated  and  malignant 
forms,  would  have  been  unknown ;  the  gracious  pres- 
ence of  God  have  been  felt ;  no  accusing  conscience 
would  have  been  there,  nor  would  the  terrors  of  a 
dark  futurity  have  gathered  round  the  dying  couch, 
turning  the  most  simple  and  harmless  of  natural 
events  into  the  most  horrible  of  calamities.  It  is 
this,  —  the  moral  aspect  which  sin  has  given  the  last 
struggle  of  nature,  —  it  is  its  ghastly  accompaniments 
that  constitute  what  Scripture  and  the  common  lan- 
guage of  mankind  call  death.  Whatever  it  once  was,  — 
the  friend,  the  benefactor  of  man,  the  angel  of  peace, 
that  by  a  gentle  kiss,  or  a  breathing,  light  as  the 
sleeping  infant's,  parted  the  happy  spirit  from  its  clay 
tenement  to  seek  an  eternal  building  in  the  heavens, 
—  most  certainly  it  was  very  different  from  what  we 
see  every  day  around  us. 

Is  there  not  a  curse  in  the  last?     Can  any  one. 


374  SERMONS. 

deny  it,  who  has  ever  seen  a  death-bed,  or  a  funeral  ? 
Wliy  (to  amplify  a  little)  has  a  benevolent  Deity, 
whose  goodness  reigns  over  all  his  other  works,  been 
pleased  to  emancipate  his  noblest  and  best  from 
mortal  shackles  by  a  process  calling  up  so  many 
dismal  ideas  ?  Death  1  There  is  something  freezing 
in  the  very  sound.  Nature  shudders  at  the  thought, 
at  the  most  distant  prospect  of  it.  And  no  wonder  ! 
It  is  not  a  mere  bugbear  deriving  its  terrors  from 
a  cowardly  imagination.  What  tremendous  precipices 
to  be  passed  over  in  going  down  to  the  dreary  valley ! 
Here  an  accumulation  of  agonizing  pains,  —  weary 
days,  and  groaning,  sleepless  nights  ;  there  the  sinking 
of  the  heart,  the  utter  desolation  of  soul  known  only 
to  the  one  that  feels  it  when  told  that  all  hope  is 
gone.  But  after  being  fairly  entered  the  jaws  of 
(sheol)  the  monster,  who  can  tell  how  tremendous  the 
passage  through  ?  Some  of  our  friends  may  have  de- 
scended to  the  portals  and  returned  again  rehearsing 
the  trials  they  have  encountered  ;  but  none  who  passed 
beyond  have  been  so  courteous  as  to  revisit  us  and 
blab  the  secret  of  their  journey.  The  information 
can  be  got  only  from  experience.  To  know,  we  must 
feel  the  shock  wliich  tears  asunder  soul  and  body, 
and  separates  from  every  present  enjoyment.  The 
sun  withdraws  his  blessed  light  and  is  eclipsed  for- 
ever ;  the  moon  and  the  fair  stars  are  blotted  out ;  the 
genial  influences  of  spring  are  no  more  felt ;  the 
fragrance  of  summer  no  more  gladdens.  Our  bodies 
are  wrapped  up,  boxed  and  cast  into  a  pit  as  things 
too  offensive  for  God  or  man  to  look  at.  Our  dear- 
est friend,  when  he  undertakes  to  press  on  our  cold 


SERMONS.  375 

cheek  the  last  kiss  of  love,  turns  away  loathing. 
Already,  before  obtaining  our  final  resting-place,  we 
are  a  prey  to  putrefaction.  Every  tic  that  binds  us 
to  the  living  is  dissolved.  Parents  leave  their  chil- 
dren, children  their  parents ;  husbands  their  wives, 
wives  their  husbands  ;  and  the  laceration  of  these 
bonds,  with  what  untold  agony  does  it  fill  the  earth ! 

And  is  all  this,  combined  with  what  is  infinitely 
worse  and  never  to  be  overlooked,  an  accusing  con- 
science, a  sense  of  guilt,  and  a  dark  foreboding  of  the 
future,  a  mere  law  of  physics  ;  a  simple,  natural 
phenomenoii  like  the  flux  of  the  tides  ;  the  rising  and 
setting  of  the  stars ;  the  reproduction  and  decay 
of  vegetables  ?  Do  not  believe  it.  Scout  the  sense- 
less al)surdity,  and  listen  in  devout  humility  to  that 
Holy  Book  which  gives  the  true  solution,  the  only 
philosophy  that  expounds  the  awful  mystery  of  the 
subject.  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world, 
and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men, 
for  that  all  have  sinned."  In  this  light  you  must 
always  contemplate  your  latter  end.  You  must  view 
it  as  in  itself  a  melancholy  thing,  as  God's  curse 
on  man,  —  his  deep  burning  brand  on  the  traitor  who 
dared  to  lift  his  puny  arm  against  Omnipotence. 

The  neglect  of  this  view  accounts  for  the  little  im- 
portance which  many  attach  to  death,  in  seeming 
at  least,  for  the  hardihood  with  which  they  encounter 
it,  though  confessedly  destitute  of  a  religious  hope. 
Such  cases  are  not  rare.  How  often  do  we  see  the 
man  of  abandoned  wickedness  remaining  such  to  the 
last,  expiring  with  blasphemy  on  his  tongue !  The 
apparent  frequency  —  more  apparent  than  real  how- 


376  SERMONS, 

ever  —  of  sucli  exhibitions  almost  tempts  superficial 
observers  to  doubt  the  necessity  of  religion,  to  ask, 
"  If  the  ungodly  man  can  prance  so  gallantly  to  his 
end,  of  what  use  are  its  sublime  consolations.  With- 
out them  it  is  plain  I  can  live,  and  without  them 
it  seems  equally  plain  I  can  die."  The  objection  is 
easily  answered :  a  mighty  distinction  is  overlooked. 
It  is  a  very  different  thing  for  a  man  to  die  with  his 
eyes  shut  and  his  eyes  open  ;  to  die  stupidly  ignorant 
of  what  he  is  doing,  and  to  die  with  a  full  apprecia- 
tion of  its  solemn  import.  The  former  is  the  charac- 
ter of  the  persons  referred  to.  They  have  never 
seriously  considered  the  subject ;  they  are  strangers  to 
the  moral  physiology  of  death,  and  hence  they  can 
view  it,  in  prospect  at  least,  with  what  the  world 
thinks  admirable  firmness. 

The  reflection,  however,  cannot  but  occur  to  a 
thoughtful  spirit,  tliat,  after  all,  this  is  not  a  desirable 
state  of  things.  Surely  those  are  not  to  be  envied 
whose  courage  is  in  the  direct  ratio  of  their  igno- 
rance, and  would  ooze  out  from  their  fingers'  ends 
at  the  entrance  of  a  little  light.  We  would  hardly 
call  the  idiot  a  hero  who,  ignorant  of  the  nature  and 
effects  of  firearms,  would  rush  on  the  exploding  can- 
non. True  lieroism  consists  in  serenity  of  mind,  ac- 
companied with  a  full  consciousness  of  danger ;  and, 
therefore,  the  Christian  is  the  only  hero,  because  he 
only  meets  the  last  enemy  with  smiles,  recognizing 
that  he  is  an  enemy.  As  for  those  bold  defiances  of 
the  ungodly,  their  bravadoes,  be  it  remembered,  are 
heard  only  at  the  beginning  of  the  contest ;  they 
have  no  opportunity  to  inform  us  what  discoveries  of 


SEEMONS.  377 

comparative  strength  take  place  before  its  close.  One 
thing  is  certain,  that  the  men  who  boast  they  fear  it 
not,  know  it  not.  Like  the  simple  child,  bearding 
the  Numidian  lion  in  his  lair,  they  have  no  concep- 
tion of  the  terribleness  of  their  enemy,  till  irrecov- 
erably in  his  grasp.  We  have  read,  or  heard 
somewhere,  the  observation,  that,  after  receiving  a 
mortal  wound  in  battle,  the  last  hours  of  those  noted 
for  their  dashing  gallantry  are  frequently  not  in 
keeping  with  the  gay  hardihood  displayed  a  short 
time  before.  The  great  poet's  description  of  Caesar 
in  a  fever,  crying  out  like  a  sick  girl,  is  often  verified. 
Bodily  prostration  will,  in  part  account  for  it,  but 
not  entirely  ;  for  the  delicate  female  and  feeble  old 
age  have,  in  similar  circumstances,  evinced  a  beauti- 
ful calmness  and  self-possession.  The  truth  is,  the 
fire-eating  courage  which  wins  such  golden  opinions 
from  men  is  that  of  the  well-fed  animal  rather  than 
of  the  mind,  and,  therefore,  the  whole  charm  dissolves 
at  the  loss  of  a  little  blood.  More  than  all,  a  new 
light  is  suddenly  let  into  the  soul ;  it  begins  to  feel 
itself  in  the  true  world,  —  no  longer  the  phantom 
world,  the  world  of  vain  illusion :  there  is  an  over- 
whelming consciousness  of  being  in  the  presence,  not 
of  a  phenomenon,  but  a  stern  messenger  of  Heaven, 
enforcing  the  penalty  of  a  violated  law. 

In  the  second  place,  we  should  consider  our  latter 
end  as  one  of  those  inexorable  certainties  which  it 
would  be  sheer  idiocy  to  doubt.  From  the  upper 
chancery,  sentence  has  gone  forth  against  all  the  chil- 
dren of  Adam.  The  other  edicts  of  Omnipotence 
have  been  violated,  but  this  is  proof  against  trans- 

32* 


878  SERMONS. 

grossion.  The  hardest  shiner  yields  it  exemplary 
obedience.  In  other  wars,  the  infant,  the  aged,  the 
feeble-minded,  are  exempted.  Bat  no  discharge 
here.  The  death-field  is  strewn,  in  equal  profusion, 
with  the  bones  of  the  child  a  span  long  and  the  mag- 
nificent warrior  who  filled  the  world  with  his  re- 
nown. The  youth  and  veteran  lie  together.  The 
form,  admired  by  every  eye  and  sung  by  many  a 
tongue,  is  quietly  stretched  beside  haggard  age. 
Friends,  foes,  parents,  children,  master  and  servant, 
ministers  and  hearers,  physicians  and  patients,  teach- 
ers and  students,  meet  on  common  ground,  forgetting 
their  previous  sympathies,  antipathies,  and  rela- 
tions :  — 

"  What  is  this  world  ? 
What  but  a  spacious  burial-field  unwalled, 
Strewed  with  death's  spoils  V 
The  very  turf  on  which  we  tread,  once  lived ; 
And  we  that  live,  must  lend  our  carcasses 
To  cover  our  own  offspring." 

These  are  truths  which  no  one  pretends  to  gainsay. 
But  I  must  observe  that  the  consideration  to  which 
our  text  invites  us  implies  more  than  assent  to  them. 
We  must  lay  them  to  heart.  Ah,  here  is  the  difficult 
point !  It  is  an  easy  thing  to  acquiesce  in  the  gen- 
eral maxim,  and  say,  with  a  sentimental  shrug  and 
contraction  of  the  eyebrow,  "All  must  die."  But  it 
is  not  so  easy  to  bring  the  fact  home  to  our  bosom. 
Men  do  not  like  to  reflect  on  it  with  any  closeness, 
and  therefore  put  it  far  off;  as  if  heedlessness  would 
render  certainty  a  little  less  certain. 

The  mind  seems,  in  this  respect,  endowed  with  a 
strange  power;  a  power  of  closing  its  eyes  on  the 


SEEMONS.  379 

most  eminent  evils,  —  looking  right  away  from  ob- 
jects the  sight  of  which  give  it  uneasiness.  There 
are  men  who  could  preserve  a  good  degree  of  cheer- 
fulness with  the  certainty  of  being  in  a  few  days 
tortured  at  the  stake,  provided  there  was  a  prepon- 
derance of  chances  in  favor  of  its  not  taking  place 
to-morrow.  In  some  respects  it  is  a  happy  constitu- 
tion. Where  vivid  anticipations  of  the  future  have 
no  connection  with  present  duty,  nor  with  prepara- 
tion for  that  future,  the  indulgence  of  them  is  morbid, 
only  tending  to  make  us  miserable  before  the  time. 
Bnt,  surely,  it  is  the  very  folly  of  the  moon  to  put 
far  from  us  the  certainties  of  to-morrow,  when  bring- 
ing th^em  near  would  have  the  best  influence  on  the 
conduct  of  to-day.  Yet  so  act  the  most.  Like  per- 
sons on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  they  will  not  hispect 
the  books  that  give  the  proof  of  it.  They  are  like  a 
heap  of  pismires,  so  intent  on  hoarding  their  paltry 
grains,  that  they  do  not  see  Ihe  foot  lifted  up  to  crush 
them  and  their  possessions.  This  folly  you  will  avoid 
if  you  obey  the  injunction  of  the  text.  You  will 
consider  your  latter  end  as  certain ;  you  will  fre- 
quently think  of  it  as  such,  as  something  that  stands 
right  in  your  path,  and  must  be  encountered.  Es- 
pecially you  will  avoid  that  rock  of  perdition  to 
thousands,  the  idea  that  it  is  at  an  indefinite  distance. 
Life  at  best  is  short,  and  liable  every  moment  to  be 
cut  shorter  still,  by  disease  and  accident.  Every 
pain,  therefore,  you  feel,  every  disorder,  however 
trifling,  should  be  interpreted  as  a  knock  at  the  door, 
by  tlie  officer  who  is  to  enforce  a  writ  of  ejectment, 
—  as  a  signal  for  striking  tent,  and  preparing  to 
cross  the  Jordan. 


380  SERMONS. 

Again,  thirdly,  as  death  is  certain,  so  we  are  called 
on  to  consider  that  the  time  with  all  the  circum- 
stances is  predetermined,  however  to  human  appear- 
ance casual.  We  have  a  striking  example  of  this 
in  Moses  himself,  the  author  of  the  text.  To  avoid 
the  bloody  edict  of  Pharaoh,  he  is  cast,  when  newly 
born,  into  the  river,  to  die  by  an  easy  death.  But 
he  cannot  die.  The  daughter  of  Pharaoh  rescues  and 
adopts  him  as  her  son.  His  conduct  exposes  him  to 
the  infuriate  enmity  of  the  whole  Egyptian  nation, — 
the  child  of  destiny  cannot  yet  die.  Thousands  and 
ten  thousands  of  the  people,  indeed  all  except  two 
or  three,  bleach  with  their  bones  the  wilderness 
through  which  he  led  them  to  the  land  of  promise. 
He  bears  a  charmed  life  ;  at  length  comes  to  the  land 
of  Moab,  —  ascends  Mount  Nebo,  and  there  dies, 
*'  according  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord^  The  cruel 
Ahab,  to  avoid  tlie  fate  predicted,  that  where  the  dogs 
licked  up  the  blood  of  Naboth,  they  should  perform 
the  same  office  for  him,  enters  the  field  of  battle  in  dis- 
guise :  "  A  Syrian  archer,"  we  are  informed,  "  drew 
his  bow  at  a  venture  and  smote  him  between  the  joints 
of  the  harness  :  so  the  king  died  and  the  dogs  licked 
his  blood,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord."  Re- 
peatedly did  the  Jews  attempt  the  death  of  our 
Redeemer ;  but  his  hour  being  not  yet  come,  their 
efforts  proved  abortive.  Time  rolls  on  ;  at  length 
the  season  arrives,  and  Jesus  expires,  at  the  ninth 
hour,  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  according  to  the  '*  de- 
terminate counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God." 

Equally  true  is  it  that  to  all  of  us  there  is  an 
appointed  time  on  earth ;   that   our  days  are  as  the 


SERMONS,  381 

days  of  a  hireling.  What  an  interesting  thought ! 
In  God's  Book  is  registered,  with  minutest  accuracy, 
every  breath  we  draw,  every  action  we  perform,  till 
we  enter  the  silent  land.  He  counts  the  heats  of 
our  pulse.  To  the  man  of  piety  there  is  nothing 
offensive  in  this  doctrine.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  as 
precious  to  his  heart  as  its  truth  is  nearly  self-evident 
to  his  understanding.  He  feels  no  trembling  at  the 
thought  of  being  in  the  hands  of  God  ;  no  regrets 
that  when  he  leaves  the  world  he  is  not  called  to 
erect  liis  last  altar  to  chance^  that  most  forlorn  of  all 
substitutes  for  God  ever  devised  by  human  folly. 

Fourthly.  Another  point  we  should  consider  is,  that 
we  can  only  die  once.  If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live 
again  ?  Having  departed,  shall  he  return  ?  "  Nay," 
says  the  apostle,  "  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to 
die."  If  you  transact  not  this  weighty  business 
right  at  first,  you  can  never  rectify  your  terrible  mis- 
take. There  is  no  salvo  of  "  errors  excepted ; "  no 
second  edition  with  corrections.  No  light  from 
heaven  penetrates  the  clod ;  no  voice  of  pardon 
echoes  through  the  gloom  of  the  sepulchre.  There  is 
no  knowledge,  nor  work,  nor  device  in  the  grave, 
whither  we  are  hastening.  What  need,  then,  to  die 
aright  at  first !  In  most  of  the  great  transactions  of 
life,  if  a  blunder  be  committed,  it  may  be  corrected. 
This  is  an  experiment  never  to  be  repeated,  and  its 
issues  are  eternal. 

For,  lastly,  we  are  to  consider  death  as  the  termi- 
nation of  our  probationary  course.  In  this  consists 
its  awful,  its  infinite  importance.  It  ends  the  day 
allotted  for  repentance,  and  introduces  that  interest- 


882  SERMONS, 

ing  period  when  we  must  give  an  account  of  our 
stewardship.  Then  our  whole  past  shall  be  investi- 
gated. How  solemn  the  process  !  How  searching 
the  scrutiny  !  Every  deed  done  in  the  body  exam- 
ined by  Him  who  was  privy  to  each ;  every  failure 
detected ;  every  work  of  darkness  brought  to  noon- 
day light ;  no  partiality  in  the  Judge ;  the  decision 
irreversible  ;  the  execution  instant !  Surely  it  is  a 
solemn  thing  to  die. 

Let  me  conclude  this  head  with  an  advice  as  to  the 
way  in  which  we  should  consider  our  latter  end.  It 
is  a  general  maxim  that  nothing  renders  a  study  so 
profitable  as  pursuing  it  with  method  and  regularity. 
Let  one  evening  in  the  week,  then,  be  given  up  to 
the  duty  we  are  recommending.  Whatever  period 
be  fixed  on,  make  it  sacred  as  the  holy  of  holies  in 
the  Jewish  temple.  Shut  out  the  visitor  and  friend, 
the  wife,  the  domestic,  and  the  child,  and  let  the 
whole  soul  be  called  on  to  serious  contemplation. 
Such  a  course,  adopted  and  persevered  in,  would 
produce  the  most  happy  effects. 

Also,  make  it  your  care  to  improve  the  providences 
of  God  around  you.  You  have  been,  for  example,  at 
a  sick-bed  and  have  heard  the  last  groans  of  dissolv- 
ing nature.  Cherish  the  impressions  you  have  re- 
ceived, and  instead  of  laboring,  as  is  too  often  done, 
to  blot  the  gloomy  scene  from  the  page  of  memory, 
endeavor  sometimes  to  call  it  up  anew  and  in  all 
its  details  of  thrilling  sublimity.  The  like  with 
funeral  solemnities.  On  entering  the  house  of  death 
endeavor  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  corpse.  It  is 
indeed  a  melancholy  spectacle,  but  an  instructive 


SERMONS.  383 

teacher.  When  arrived  at  the  place  of  interment, 
screw  up  your  courage  to  another  duty,  to  look  down 
into  the  doleful  prison-house  and  say,  there,  too, 
is  my  home.  In  fine,  instead  of  discouraging,  court 
reflection  by  improving  the  various  calls  and  moni- 
tions of  Providence.  This  it  is  to  be  truly  wise, 
to  consider  our  latter  end. 

II.  Let  us  proceed  to  show  very  briefly  that  it 
is  so  (wise),  by  pointing  out  some  of  the  benefits 
that  flow  from  it.  It  will  be  a  most  powerful  anti- 
dote against  the  love  of  sin.  Why  is  it  that  so  many 
of  those  around  us  have  succeeded  in  the  desperate 
endeavor  of  casting  away  utterly  all  fear  of  God,  and 
are  carried  hither  and  thither  by  their  lusts  to  work 
iniquity  with  greediness  ?  Undoubtedly,  one  and  a 
principar reason  is,  they  do  not  reflect;  they  never 
call  up  that  awful  and  certain  period  when  they  shall 
be  torn  from  their  unlawful  pleasures,  and  stand 
naked  before  God's  great  tribunal.  Could  they  only 
be  roused  from  this  torpor,  the  illusions  in  which  they 
have  enveloped  themselves  would  vanish  as  the  mists 
of  the  night  before  the  light  of  the  morning.  They 
would  ask  themselves  questions  that  would  give  them 
no  rest  by  day,  and  appall  them  with  visions  by  night. 
How  can  I  live  a  life  of  rebellion  against  that 
holy  and  omnipotent  Being,  who  is  soon  to  be  my 
judge  ?  May  the  summons  come  to-morrow,  to-day, 
this  moment  ?  0  my  deluded  soul !  awake  from 
thy  sleep  ;  the  avenger  of  blood  is  behind  thee  ;  flee, 
flee  to  the  horns  of  the  altar.  Such  is  the  result  to 
which  obedience  to  our  text  would  lead.  It  is  the 
most  effectual  bridle  on  sinful  affections,  —  the  most 


384  SERMONS, 

eloquent   of  preachers  against   all  ungodliness  and 
worldly  lusts. 

Further,  it  will  be  found  an  excellent  antidote 
against  that  intemperate  levity  which,  with  most  of 
us,  but  especially  the  young,  is  a  serious  impediment 
to  their  soul's  salvation.  Go,  my  merry  gentleman, 
my  roaring,  ranting  Billy,  into  thine  inner  chamber, 
after  having,  by  thy  obscene  wit,  thy  jibes,  thy  pro- 
fane gambols,  thy  wanton  songs,  set  the  company  in 
a  roar.  Go,  and  converse  awhile  with  death.  Let 
memory  recall  the  convulsions,  the  wild,  distorted 
eyes,  the  dying  rattle,  of  some  endeared  friend.  En- 
ter the  church-yard ;  read  the  inscriptions  of  here  a 
babe  that  scarce  saw  the  light ;  here  a  man  who  fell 
before  the  destroyer  in  ruddy  health  and  masculine 
vigor ;  here  of  one  who  had  maintained  the  contest, 
as  his  admiring  stone  takes  care  to  inform  us,  until 
he  had  nearly  completed  his  century.  Mark  the 
hearse  approaching  to  add  another.  Then  turn  in- 
ward to  thyself.  Imagine  what  a  short  time  will 
undoubtedly  realize,  —  thy  chamber  darkened,  thy 
friends  standing  round  thy  bed,  —  a  stillness  only 
broken  by  that  saddest  of  litanies,  the  gasps  of  a 
mortal  in  the  last  struggle,  with  the  response  in  sighs 
and  stifled  groans  of  attendants.  The  physician  has 
ceased  his  care.  Your  soul  sits  on  your  lips  and 
flutters  to  be  gone.  'T^s  gone.  The  curtain  drops. 
The  tragedy  is  over  I  "  Alas,  poor  Yorick !  quite 
chopfallen,  now  !  "  Think  of  such  a  scene,  child  of 
frolic  and  of  fun.     It  is  a  bitter  remedy,  but  healing. 

Again,  it  will  induce  submission  to  the  adverse  dis- 
pensations, or  those  we  are  apt  to  deem  such,  of  divine 


SERMONS.  385 

Providence.  The  man  who  has  reflected  much  on 
the  end  of  his  journey,  must,  from  the  necessity  of 
the  case,  suffer  with  equanimity  the  various  ills  that 
may  befall  him.  He  knows  they  will  soon  be  over. 
Why,  then,  should  he  allow  himself  to  be  disquieted? 
If  the  accommodations  of  his  inn  are  bad,  the  night 
is  not  long,  and  there  are  already  indications  of 
morning.  Were  there  no  relief  in  prospect,  his  case 
might  be  thought  a  hard  one  compared  with  that  of 
his  fortunate  neighbor ;  but  as  the  whole  load  is  to 
be  thrown  off  in  a  few  days,  while  in  perhaps  a 
shorter  time,  his  fortunate  neighbor  will  be  deprived 
of  all  his  advantages,  it  were  childish  to  repine.  So 
the  Christian  reasons  and  acts.  He  sustains  disap- 
pointments manfully  ;  parts  with  friends  sorrowfully, 
indeed,  but  without  murmuring  ;  and,  in  all  trials  of 
faith  and  patience,  maintains  a  serene  dignity,  of 
which  nothing  can  deprive  him. 

Lastly,  the  due  consideration  of  our  latter  end  will 
make  it  easy,  when  the  period  arrives.  The  most 
effectual  method  of  destroying  our  fear  of  an  object 
is  making  ourselves  familiar  with  it ;  and  thus,  fre- 
quently contemplating  the  ugly  visage  of  death,  is 
the  best  security  against  that  panic  terror  which  its 
near  approach  is  apt  to  excite.  In  this  case  it  does 
not  come  by  surprise.  It  finds  us  prepared,  firm,  ex- 
pectant. By  anticipating  it  while  yet  distant,  we  were 
led  to  make  our  peace  with  God  through  the  blood  of 
the  everlasting  covenant ;  and  thus  armed  against  all 
emergencies,  we  shall  find  its  malignity  destroyed, 
the  appreheaision  of  it  removed,  and  can  exclaim  : 
"  Yea,   though   I  walk   through   the   valley  of  the 

33 


386  SERMONS. 

shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil ;  for  thou  art 
with  me ;  thy  rod  and  thy  staff  they  comfort  me." 
Not  only  so,  but  it  returns  to  its  original  character 
as  the  passage-way  from  earth  to  heaven,  the  portal 
of  immortality,  the  gate  of  pearl  through  which  the 
rejoicing  saint  enters  the  city  of  God. 

In  conclusion,  let  Christians  be  animated  by  the 
solemn  call  in  our  text  to  increased  diligence  in  their 
spiritual  work.  You  well  know  by  what  an  uncer- 
tain tenure  you  hold  your  present  existence.  The 
arrow  intended  to  pierce  your  heart  may  be  already 
on  the  string.  In  another  hour  your  sun  may  set  in 
darkness ;  in  another  day  you  may  be  laid  in  that 
unconscious  bed  where  you  will  have  no  share  in 
anything  under  the  sun.  Endeavor,  therefore,  to  be 
useful  now  ;  and  whatever  your  hands  find  to  do,  do 
it  with  your  might.  Perhaps  you  are  looking  for- 
ward to  a  protracted  period  of  service  in  the  vine- 
yard. But  you  may  be  mistaken.  The  present  only 
is  yours.  Whatever  opportunities  then  occur  of  glo- 
rifying God  and  blessing  your  fellow-men,  promptly 
and  sedulously  improve.  They  have  rapid  wings; 
seize  them  as  they  fly. 

As  to  you  who  feel  upon  your  consciences  the  bur- 
den of  having  entirely  at  least  so  far  rejected  the 
service  of  your  God  and  Saviour,  let  me  entreat  you 
to  pause  and  reflect.  The  arm  of  divine  justice  is 
lifted  up,  and  if  it  fall  it  will  break  your  every  bone, 
and  sink  you  into  the  nethermost  hell.  Begin,  I 
pray,  your  work  of  preparation  now.  Why  not  let 
this  day  witness  your  purpose  of  rising  from  the  lap 
of  indolence  and  devoting  yourselves  to  the  great  end 


SERMONS.  387 

of  being  ?  Why  not  make  this  day  a  memorial  of 
your  recovery  from  the  fatal  lethargy  in  which  you 
have  spent  the  morning  of  life  —  from  the  palsy  of  all 
those  nobler  powers  which  the  Creator  claims  as  due 
exclusively  to  himself  ?  Mark  it  in  your  calendar  as 
the  day  on  which  you  awoke  to  duty  and  to  God  —  on 
which  you  were  born  to  an  immortal  life.  There  is 
no  room  for  procrastination.  The  urn  which  holds 
the  destinies  of  men  is  continually  shaking,  and  the 
first  that  comes  forth  perhaps  is  yours.  "  Now  is  the 
accepted  time  ;  now  the  day  of  salvation." 


Tee  Eesurrection  of  the  Body, 


XVII. 

THE   RESURRECTION   OF    THE   BODY. 


1  Cor.  15:42.     %a  also  is  \\t  xt^mxtdxnv.  of  ll^e  bjtair. 


HE  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  from  the  dead 
is  the  peculiar  glory  of  revelation ;  and  the  con- 
fident hope  of  it,  one  of  the  Christian's  grand 
supports  under  his  present  manifold  trials 
and  infirmities.  Deprived  of  all  resources  but  the 
glimmerings  of  "unenlightened  reason,  the  grave 
bounds  our  prospects,  and  must  be  contemplated  as 
our  permanent  abode.  In  consigning  to  the  sep- 
ulchre the  remains  of  beloved  friends,  no  hope  of  re- 
animation  could  be  indulged.  The  fond  husband, 
the  tender  wife  and  mother,  would  perform  the  last 
offices  to  the  object  dearer  to  them  than  life,  under 
the  harrowing  conviction  that  it  would  mingle  eter- 
nally with  its  kindred  dust.  Accordingly,  we  find 
that  every  sect  of  the  ancient  heathen  philosophers, 
whatever  ideas  they  might  entertain  concerning  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  denied,  nay,  scouted  the  re- 
suscitation of  the  body.  Hence,  when  Paul  preached 
"  Jesus  and  the  resurrection  "  to  the  learned  Athe- 
nians, both  Stoics  and  Epicureans  united  in  branding 
him  as  a  babbler  and  setter-forth  of  strange  doc- 
trines. 


392  SERMONS. 

Blessed  be  God,  we  know  this  babbling  to  be  the 
words  of  truth  and  soberness.  That  same  gospel 
which  has  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  has 
given  us  the  assurance  that  a  day  is  at  hand  when 
"  they  that  sleep  in  the  dust  shall  hear  the  voice  of 
the  Son  of  God,  and  come  forth :  some  to  life,  some 
to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt." 

This  is  the  doctrine  taught  by  the  apostle  in  our 
text ;  with  special  reference,  however,  to  those  who 
die  the  death  of  the  righteous  :  in  other  parts  of  his 
writings  the  fates  of  the  wicked  being  given  with  ter- 
rible distinctness.  It  is  our  purpose  to  waive  the 
consideration  of  the  latter  at  present,  —  not  being  in- 
vited to  it,  by  the  passage ;  and  with  regard  to  the 
former,  we  do  not  propose  to  offer  any  elaborate 
proof  of  a  truth  so  clearly  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, but  to  elucidate  and  remove  prejudices  against 
it  by  a  few  plain  reflections ;  making  no  appeals  to 
the  fancy,  and  little  to  the  feelings,  though  the  sub- 
ject readily  admits  of  both. 

But,  first,  let  us  look,  for  a  few  moments,  at  the  de- 
scription given  by  the  apostle  of  the  qualities  of  the 
risen  body.  It  is  full  of  significance.  He  warns  us 
agahist  the  puerile  conception,  that  there  will  be  a 
mere  reproduction  of  the  present  mass  of  flesh, 
bones,  and  sinews,  —  a  conception,  which  unspeak- 
ably degrades  the  doctrine,  and  would  enlist  all  cul- 
tivated understandings  in  violent  opposition  to  it. 
He  tells  us,  plainly,  that  it  shall  have  undergone  sur- 
prising changes^  and  differ  as  much  from  its  former 
self  as  the  glory  of  the  celestial  differs  from  that  of 
the  terrestrial ;  using  expressions,  which,  if  failing  in 
scientific  exactness,  are  eminently  suggestive. 


SEEMONS  393 

"  It  is  sown  in  corruption."  The  present  body  is 
an  aggregate  of  substances  tending  to  dissolution, 
—  only  kept  together  in  consequence  of  a  violence 
continually  exerted  on  them  by  that  incomprehensi- 
ble energy  called  the  living  principle.  Life  is  thus  a 
forced  state,  in  which  matter  yields  a  short  and  reluc- 
tant obedience  to  a  foreign  master.  The  seeds  of 
putrefaction  are  sown  broadcast  through  the  whole 
frame,  and  are  developed  by  the  slightest  causes.  A 
trifling  part,  for  example,  receives  some  little  injury. 
It  spreads  from  limb  to  limb  :  soon  gangrene  com- 
mences, —  steals  up  to  the  citadel  of  life.  The  im- 
mortal spirit,  sickened  with  its  habitation,  departs  in 
search  of  other  associations :  the  earth  receives  it,  and 
it  says  to  corruption,  "  Thou  art  my  father ; "  to  the 
worm,  "  Thou  art  my  mother  and  my  sister." 

"  It  is  raised,"  says  the  apostle,  "  in  incorruption." 
It  is  no  more  liable  to  change.  The  affinities  which 
bind  together  the  various  parts  are  so  powerful  that 
no  violence  can  separate  them ;  nor  can  they  be  af- 
fected by  other  affinities.  Hence,  all  the  seeds  of 
disease  and  death  are  left  behind  in  the  grave. 

"  It  is  sown  in  dishonor."  The  curse  of  Heaven 
entailed  on  sin  stamps  it,  while  here,  with  indelible 
disgrace.  In  such  ignominy  is  it  sown,  that  its  best 
friends  turn  away  with  disgust,  and  are  glad  to  re- 
move it  from  their  view.  Enter  a  hospital ;  how 
shocking  the  spectacle  that  offers !  —  and  the  same 
impression,  though  in  a  less  degree,  is  made  by  every 
dying-bed.  No  matter  how  warmly  our  affections 
may  go  forth  to  the  sufferer,  underlying  our  tender 
sympathies   is  a  feeling  that  we  are  contemplating 


394  BERMONS. 

something  degraded  and  vile.  When  death  has  taken 
actual  possession,  what  a  chill  creeps  over  the  sur- 
vivors !  How  fearfully  they  steal  a  passing  look  at 
the  ghastly  object !  With  what  an  effort  they  press 
the  last  kiss  on  the  clammy  forehead  ;  and,  after  the 
sod  has  covered  it,  what  relief  they  feel,  as  from  an 
oppressive  load !  By  this  wise  provision  a  merciful 
Providence  reconciles  us  to  the  anguish  of  parting, 
which  otherwise  would  be  intolerable.  The  good 
Parent  proceeds  with  us,  as  the  mother  oftentimes  in 
weaning  her  reluctant  child.  By  suitable  pungent 
applications  she  embitters  the  sources  of  its  enjoy- 
ment, so  that  it  turns  away  disgusted  from  the  loving 
bosom  to  which  it  clung  a  few  hours  before  with  such 
intensity  of  affection. 

But  it  is  "  raised  in  glory.^''  Not  only  shall  every 
blemish  be  removed,  but  it  shall  be  adorned  with 
celestial  splendor  and  beauty.  If  you  want  a  faint 
representation  of  it,  look  at  the  sun  in  his  midday 
brightness  ;  for  our  Lord  informs  us,  "  The  righteous 
shall  shine  forever,  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  the 
Father.''  Look  at  the  face  of  Moses,  so  radiant  with 
the  divine  glory  reflected  from  it  that  a  veil  must  be 
interposed  to  render  the  sight  endurable  to  the  hu- 
man eye.  Nay,  you  must  pierce  the  heavens,  and 
behold  Jesus  at  the  right  hand  of  God  ;  for  the 
bodies  of  his  saints,  we  are  told,  "  shall  be  fashioned 
like  his  own  glorious  body." 

"  It  is  sown  in  weakness. ^^  We  all  know  the  feeble- 
ness of  the  human  body  on  its  first  entrance  into  life  ; 
and  this  attends  it  through  the  whole  of  its  transient 
existence.     But  it  is  raised  in  strength.     When  the 


SERMONS,  896 

great  trumpet  sounds,  the  sleeper  comes  forth  free 
from  every  trace  of  mfirmity.  To  use  the  expressive 
language  of  Scripture,  the  wings  of  a  great  eagle 
are  given  it,  on  which  it  soars  aloft,  and  sees  sun, 
moon,  and  stars  at  its  feet ;  yea,  with  open  face  and 
unblanched  eye,  can  behold  the  glory  of  the  Lord. 

"  It  is  sown  a  natural  body."  It  is  at  present  of 
the  earth,  earthy  ;  subject  to  the  same  laws  which 
govern  inferior  animals,  actuated  by  similar  im- 
pulses ;  exhausted  by  labor,  tormented  by  hunger, 
thirst,  and  other  appetites ;  destroyed  by  want  of 
sleep.  "  But  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body."  Though 
still  material,  it  will  be  so  refined  that  its  qualities 
will  bear  a  sort  of  resemblance  to  those  angelic  spirits. 
A  complete  emancipation  will  take  place  from  bondage 
to  animal  cravings.  The  sensations  of  hunger  and 
thirst,  owing  to  some  wonderful  change  in  its  consti- 
tution that  will  provide  the  supplies  to  its  vitality 
from  without  in  another  way,  shall  never  return. 
So  spiritual  will  be  its  substance,  that,  instead  of 
clogging  the  soul,  it  will  be  her  aid  and  vehicle,  in 
carrying  on  those  noble  employments  that  constitute 
the  felicity  of  the  future  state  :  it  will  attend  her 
most  rapid  movements,  and  with  her  expatiate  un- 
tired  through  all  the  vast  works  of  God. 

Nor  can  we  doubt  that  the  senses,  those  corporeal  * 
avenues  through  which  she  obtains  the  greater  part 
of  her  knowledge,  will  be  prodigiously  multiplied 
and  enlarged,  enabling  her  to  take  in  ideas  of  objects 
and  their  qualities,  of  which  she  has  no  more  con- 
ception at  present  than  the  man  born  deaf  of  sounds, 
or  the  blind  of  the  hues  of  the  rainbow. 


396  SERMONS. 

Such  is  the  brief  description  given  by  the  apostle 
of  the  change  that  awaits  us.  Our  belief  in  it  is  not 
a  conjecture,  nor  the  offspring  of  our  wishes,  which 
are  so  often  fathers  to  our  tlioughts  and  give  a  false 
truthfulness  to  the  merest  figments  of  imagination. 
A  divine  Teacher  hath  divulged  the  secrets  of  the 
grave.  That  same  Jesus  who,  in  his  own  person, 
broke  the  bands  of  death,  proving,  by  the  best  of  all 
methods,  the  experimental  and  historical,  that  there 
is  an  upward  way  from  the  darkness  of  the  tomb,  has 
given  the  assurance  that  all  who  love  him  shall  share 
in  his  triumph  :  "  Our  mortal  shall  put  on  immortal- 
ity ;  our  corruption  shall  put  on  incorruption." 

We  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  such  an  event 
is  possible;  involves  no  absurdity  or  contradiction. 
This  might  seem  to  be  making  small  progress  in  the 
discussion.  Yet  it  is  really  more  than  half,  cov- 
ering the  whole  ground  of  plausible  opposition.  The 
principal  argument  against  our  doctrine  —  a  doctrine 
so  congenial  to  all  the  aspirations  of  the  heart  — 
originates  in  the  notion  of  some  ahsohite  impossibility, 
which,  being  absolute,  cannot  be  overcome  even  by 
almighty  power.  On  this  principle  it  was  opposed 
by  the  philosophers  of  old,  with  whom  Paul  came  in 
contact  on  a  memorable  occasion.  They  regarded  it 
as  contradictory  and  absurd.  Looking  no  higher 
than  the  most  ordinary  and  vulgar  class  of  second 
causes,  and  worshipping  gods  nearly  as  imbecile  as 
themselves,  —  when  they  contemplated  the  human 
frame  as  dissolved  in  the  dust,  mingled  with  the 
ashes  of  hundreds  of  generations,  incorporated  with 
brutes,  with  vegetables,  with  other  men,  blended  with 


SERMONS,  397 

the  elements,  —  they  pronounced  the  belief  of  it  the 
monstrous  birth  of  a  disordered  brain. 

Such,  too,  is  the  reasoning  of  modern  opposers. 
Determined,  in  their  pride  of  wisdom,  to  fathom 
every  truth  with  the  plumb-line,  not  only  of  their  own 
reason,  but,  what  is  immeasurably  more  preposterous, 
their  own  experience,  they,  in  all  the  procedures  of 
their  understandings,  adopt  the  maxim,  that  scarcely 
anything  is  possible  which  they  cannot  explain. 
Finding  our  doctrine  to  contradict  present  appear- 
ances, to  demand  a  reference  to  other  agencies  than 
those  which  are  seen  daily  operating  around  them, 
they  rush  to  the  inference  at  once,  that  it  must  not, 
cannot  be. 

But  what  fatuity  is  this  !  Do  we  not,  every  hour, 
witness  facts  we  cannot  account  for,  the  denial  of 
whose  possibility  would  establish  universal  scepti- 
cism ?  Mark  the  reasoning  of  an  apostle,  on  this 
subject,  in  answer  to  the  question,  "  How  are  the 
dead  raised  up,  and  with  what  bodies  do  they 
come  ?  "  "  Thou  fool ! ''  he  demands.  But  this  ren- 
dering of  the  original  is  too  pungent.  The  objec- 
tions to  a  rising  of  the  dead,  that  force  themselves 
on  the  most  honest  mind,  in  which  simple  faith  in 
God  has  not  wrought  its  perfect  work,  are  plausible 
and  exceedingly  perplexing.  No  wonder  that  they 
startled  such  babes  in  religious  attainment  as  the 
Corinthians,  who  had  only  yesterday  passed  out 
from  the  darkness  of  heathenism,  and,  like  other 
children,  were  disposed  to  ask  questions.  Paul,  as 
a  Christian  gentleman,  would  not,  on  this  account, 
brand  them  with  an  epithet  the  most  contemptuous 

34 


398  SERMONS. 

and  offensive  in  our  strong  Anglo-Saxon  vocabulary. 
We  hear  him  saying,  then,  not  "  Thou  fool,"  or 
thou  Jesuit,  Deist,  Atheist,  Pantheist,  —  with  which 
many  of  our  polemics  adorn  their  paragraphs,  and 
call  it  strong  writing,  —  but,  "  0  thou  man  without 
reflection.  Consult  thine  own  experience.  That 
which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die,  and 
that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that  body 
which  shall  be,  but  bare  grain,  perchance  of  wheat 
or  some  other  grain."  "  Show  me,"  he  challenges 
them,  "  how  this  is  effected.  Expound,  in  an  intelli- 
gent way,  this  common,  every-day  resurrection  :  then 
will  I  turn  expounder,  and  solve  all  questions  con- 
cerning the  resurrection  of  the  body.  What  more 
different  than  the  seed-corn  lying  in  the  earth  with- 
out root,  blade,  stock,  and  ear, —  and  its  subsequent 
state  ?  Who  could  have  anticipated  the  change  ? 
Who,  on  your  maxims,  could  have  thought  it  'possible^ 
were  it  not  matter  of  daily  observation  ?  Cannot, 
then,  the  power  of  God,  that  vivified  the  grain,  lying 
to  appearance  dead  and  putrid  in  the  earth,  also  re- 
store our  bodies  after  dissolution,  calling  them  up 
from  the  noisome  pit  to  a  new  and  permanent  life  ?  " 

Paul's  logic  is  as  strong  as  it  is  ingenious. 

But  something  more  special  must  be  said  on  this 
point.  Difficulties  have  been  urged,  with  no  little 
pertinacity,  which  have  thrown  a  cloud  over  many 
minds  fully  alive  to  the  greatness  and  power  of  God. 
"  Changes  are  continually  going  on  in  the  human 
frame,  so  great  that  it  loses  its  proper  identity  a 
hundred  times  before  its  departure  from  th^  present 
life.     How,  then,  is  it  possible  that  the  same  mass  of 


SERMONS.  899 

matter  (a  livmdred  times  renewed)  should  be  raised  ? 
Besides,  many  of  the  particles  have  been  absorbed  in 
other  men's  bodies,  —  those  of  cannibals,  for  instance, 
whose  substance,  we  may  suppose,  in  many  cases,  to 
be  made  up  of  the  flesh  and  blood  of  their  victims : 
thus  two  or  even  a  hundred  individuals  may  be  claim- 
ants of  the  same  body."  These,  with  other  objections 
from  the  same  mint,  seem,  in  the  view  of  some,  to 
place  a  literal  resurrection  beyond  the  reach  of  Di- 
vine Almightiness. 

In  replying,  allow  me  to  observe,  that  the  supposi- 
tion of  the  same  material  properties  that  form  the 
body  is  not  essential  to  our  Christian  faith.  It  is 
pleasing  to  the  fancy,  and,  constituted  as  we  are,  it 
is  scarcely  possible,  perhaps,  to  maintain  a  lively, 
glowing  belief  in'  the  substantial  truth,  without  in- 
vesting it  with  this  agreeable  aspect.  The  pure  in- 
tellect often  passes  over  its  naked  forms  to  the  imagi- 
nation, that  they  may  receive  the  clothing  and  color 
necessary  to  give  them  power  over  the  heart.  When 
they  meet  with  opposition,  however,  they  must  be 
taken  back  —  reduced  to  their  original  simplicity  — 
from  the  imaginative  faculty,  and  subjected  to  the 
severe  and  searching  logic  of  the  understanding.  We 
repeat,  then,  that  the  supposition  of  an  identity  of  par- 
ticles in  the  resurrection  body  with  that  of  the  old  is 
not  at  all  essential  to  the  Christian  faith.  Nothing  — 
certainly  nothing  serious  —  forbids  that  the  identity  of 
the  present  and  future  vehicle  of  the  soul  will  be  of 
the  same  kind  with  that  which  now  subsists,  —  an 
identity  of  function,  of  use,  and  of  relation  to  one  and 
the   same   thinking   substance.      It  is   undoubtedly 


400  SERMONS. 

true,  that,  in  strict  exactness  of  expression,  we  are 
not  the  same  that  we  were  a  few  months  since ;  that 
every  atom  has  departed  and  been  succeeded  by 
others.  Yet  it  is  equally  true,  that  we  never  perplex 
ourselves  with  the  fear  of  being  passed  into  different 
men.  Our  arms,  legs,  and  eyes,  our  nerves,  sinews, 
and  flesh  have  more  than  once  been  changed  for 
other  legs  and  arms,  nerves,  sinews,  and  flesh ;  yet 
we  affirm,  without  stopping  a  moment  to  consider  the 
matter,  that  we  possess  the  same  body  that  years  ago 
slept  in  our  mother's  arms  !  The  principle  on  which 
this  is  done  runs  through  the  whole  animal  and  veg- 
etable kingdom,  and  is  even  applied  to  collections  of 
dead  matter.  We  call  a  river  the  same  to-day  as 
yesterday,  though  not  a  drop  of  water  is  the  same. 
We  call  the  gallant  frigate,  that  fifty  years  ago  spread 
its  country's  ensign  to  the  breeze,  the  same^  though 
not  a  plank  or  nail  remains  of  the  original  structure. 
The  common  sense  of  mankind  laughs  at  the  small 
logic  that  would  prove  an  error  in  such  phraseology. 
They  are  the  same,  because  they  perform  the  same 
functions  and  sustain  the  same  relations  to  every 
object  around  them.  No  difference  exists  in  our  ideas 
of  them ;  and  language,  that  great  instrument  of 
human  convenience,  formed  entirely  for  practical 
uses,  recognizes  their  identity,  with  a  profound  con- 
tempt for  ontological  distinctions,  which  would  only 
unfit  it  to  be  the  medium  of  social  intercourse.  Now 
the  gospel  speaks  to  us  in  plain,  human  language, — 
addresses  itself  to  the  popular  understanding.  Al- 
thougli,  therefore,  not  a  particle  of  the  risen  body 
may  be  able  to  establish  a  claim  of  prior  occupancy ; 


SEEJIONS.  401 

though  the  various  earths  and  gases  which  compose 
it,  —  the  soda,  potash,  and  hydrogen  and  carbon, — 
are  there /or  the  first  time  ;  the  blessed  doctrine  of  the 
text  is  not  in  the  least  affected.  The  Apostle  Paul 
asks,  in  an  argument, "  Does  God  care  for  oxen  ?  "  And 
we  may  ask  here,  does  he  care  for  phosphate  of  lime  ? 
In  compounding  the  resurrection  bodies  of  his  people, 
will  it  be  of  the  smallest  consequence  to  him  or  to 
us  that  the  identical  pinch  of  iron  and  half-farthing's 
worth  of  sulphur  which  entered  into  the  old,  at  some 
period  of  their  ever-varying  existence,  are  not  pres- 
ent to  occupy  their  former  position  ?  Perhaps  not 
only  shall  the  numerical  particles  all  be  changed,  but 
the  substances  themselves ;  and  the  rich  stores  of 
nature  shall  be  ransacked  for  more  exquisite  ingre- 
dients. If  so,  who  will  find  it  out ;  and  if  detected 
by  some  knowing  Faraday  or  Humphrey  Davy,  who 
will  care  f 

There  is  still  another  view  of  the  subject,  in  which 
some  of  the  best  and  strongest  Christian  minds  have 
acquiesced  the  more  readily,  because  it  has  a  basis  in 
Holy  Scripture.  They  suppose  the  existence  in 
human  bodies  of  certain  stamina^  or  germs,  formed 
by  the  cohesion  of  particles  united  by  such  powerful 
affinities  that  no  power  in  nature  can  destroy  them. 
TJiese  may  possess  a  torpid,  potential  vitality,  which 
resists  the  decomposing  agencies  continually  operating 
on  animal  matter,  may  lie  in  the  grave  as  seeds 
which  have  been  known  to  retain  their  reproductive 
virtue  for  centuries,  and,  at  the  appointed  time,  the 
grand  vernal  epoch  of  humanity,  touched  by  the 
genial  influences   of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new 

34* 


4C2  SERMONS. 

earth,  may  warm  into  activity,  gather,  by  mysterious 
laws  of  their  own  nature,  from  earth  and  air,  the  ele- 
ments required  to  their  organization,  into  a  com- 
plete human  body ;  and  this  body  may,  by  a  similar 
attraction,  find  out  its  immortal  companion,  to  form 
a  imion  with  it,  which  shall  never  be  dissolved. 
Who  dare  deny  the  possibility  of  such  nuclei  or  seeds 
of  future  life  ?  The  Apostle  Paul  most  evidently  favors 
the  supposition  (if  he  goes  no  farther),  in  the  remark- 
able passage  on  which  I  am  commenting.  He  asserts 
the  identity  of  the  risen  body  to  be  the  same  with 
that  of  the  plant,  its  parent  seed.  This  view  com- 
mends itself,  not  only  as  being  supported  by  analo- 
gies in  nature,  but  on  another  account,  to  which  I 
simply  advert.  We  have  already  stated,  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  common  language  and  sentiments  of 
mankind,  the  identity  of  a  body  is  not  affected  by 
any  change  of  the  particles  which  compose  it,  so  long 
as  its  relations  to  all  other  things  continue  the  same, 
and  it  performs  the  same  functions  and  offices  as  here- 
tofore to  one  and  the  same  conscious  mind.  But 
this  gives  us  an  additional  principle  of  unity,  which 
goes  far  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  the  imagination 
and  the  heart  for  something  more  palpable.  It  fur- 
nishes a  basis  of  objective  truth  and  reality,  namely,  a 
participation  in  one  continued  life,  extending  for- 
wards as  well  as  backwards,  and  remaining  unbroken 
amid  the  constant  change  of  fleeting  particles.  The 
oak  is  the  same  as  that  slender  twig  which,  to  our 
great  grand-parents,  appeared  just  peeping  from  the 
earth  a  hundred  years  before,  because  there  is  one 
spirit  of  life  of  which  they  are  both  participants  ;  and 


SERMONS.  403 

SO  long  as  this- continues,  the  identity  is  complete. 
And  so  of  animals.  The  full-grown  elephant  is  the 
same,  not  only  with  itself  newly  born,  but  with  the 
first  speck  of  life  in  the  womb,  and  that  cannot  be 
discerned  by  the  most  powerful  vision.  Now  this 
contiyiuity  is  fully  maintained  by  the  doctrine  under 
notice.  The  body  never  entirely  yields  to  the  law  of 
dissolution.  It  does  not  all  die.  That  mystery 
of  mysteries,  the  principle  of  vitality,  lives  on, 
reposing  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  and  waiting  for 
the  hour  of  development,  which  will  surely  come  at 
the  proper  time  and  manner.  You  see,  therefore, 
that  our  graveyards  still  retain  their  poetry.  The 
truth  of  things  does  not,  as  is  too  often  the  case,  blast 
with  a  sirocco  breath  the  natural  sentiment.  It  is 
not  an  illusion  which  sends  you  to  weep  and  to 
rejoice  over  your  departed  ones.  They  are  really 
tliey^e.  From  that  very  spot  shall  the  young  bird  of 
Paradise,  waking  out  of  its  long  winter  sleep,  fly  to 
its  native  skies. 

But  it  is  hard,  you  say,  to  conceive  of  these  mere 
rudiments  of  life,  so  small,  so  capable  of  resisting  time 
and  change,  for  a  period  of  indefinite  duration. 
With  regard  to  their  smallness  :  they  are  not  whales 
or  krakens,  but  their  size  is  quite  equal  to  your  own. 
At  the  earliest  period  of  your  existence,  had  a  nat- 
uralist been  curious  to  pay  you  a  visit  of  inspec- 
tion, he  would  have  been  compelled  to  take  with  him 
a  solar  microscope.  The  primitive  cell  out  of  which, 
the  physiologist  informs  us,  all  living  organisms  are 
formed,  may,  in  every  case,  even  that  of  the  largest 
animals,  when   separated  from  the  matter  in  which 


404  SERMONS. 

nature  has  enveloped  it  for  safe-keeping,  be  too 
minute  for  appreciation  by  the  keenest  sense.  We 
speak  of  seeds  and  the  eggs  of  birds  as  possessing  a 
degree  of  bulk  which  may  be  seen  and  handled. 
But  by  far  the  greatest  quantity  of  substance  that 
forms  these,  is  in  reality  nothing  more  than  the  en- 
velopment or  husk:  the  true  life-germ  within  being 
absolutely  invisible  till  the  period  of  germination, 
when  the  husk,  obeying  the  beautiful  laws  which 
govern  the  whole  process,  falls  away  ;  or,  as  the  apos- 
tle expressed  it,  dies  ;  and  the  young  plant,  no  longer 
cribbed  and  cabined  by  environments  which  have 
now  completed  their  service  and  become  worse  than 
useless,  bounds  into  a  higher  life.  As  to  their  power 
of  resisting  decomposition :  look  at  a  drop  of  water. 
It  is  formed  by  the  combination  of  two  gaseous  sub- 
stances, possessing  no  quality  in  common,  except  the 
general  attributes  of  matter.  Yet  the  boiling  of  a 
thousand  years  would  not  drive  them  asunder.  They 
are  decomposed,  indeed,  by  the  agency  of  galvanism. 
But  galvanism  is  not  omnipotent.  Sure,  there  may 
be  innumerable  unions,  over  which  even  this  giant 
has  no  power  whatever ;  and  who  will  affect  such 
knowledge  of  the  inscrutable  mystery  of  organized 
life,  as  to  say,  with  any  assurance,  that  it  cannot  co- 
exist with  various  compounds,  the  constituents  of 
which  no  power  of  nature,  none,  at  least,  with  which 
we  are  acquainted,  can  sunder.  It  is  a  well-estab- 
lished fact,  that  the  seeds  of  ordinary  plants  have  been 
found  in  situations  (the  coffins  of  mummies,  for  in- 
stance) where  they  remained,  in  such  perfect  pres- 
ervation  for  more  than  two   thousand  years,  that 


SERMONS.  405 

when  taken  out  and  sown,  they  have  not  only  germi- 
nated, but  advanced  to  a  healthy  maturity. 

These  different  explanations  have  been  adduced 
without  the  least  desire  on  our  part  to  adopt  one  or 
the  other  as  an  article  of  faith.  The  experience  of 
all  time  proves  the  vanity  of  attempting  to  demon- 
strate beforehand  in  what  way  God  will  fulfil  his 
plans  and  purposes.  Somehow  he  almost  always  dis- 
appoints us.  "  Wait  upon  Jiiin  —  wait^'^  is  the  dictate 
both  of  true  science  and  true  religion.  Yet  the  con- 
siderations advanced  are  not  without  use  ;  because 
they  show  the  unreasonableness  of  that  presumptuous 
dogmatism  which,  by  a  loud  and  continued  ringing  of 
changes  on  the  word  "  impossible^^^  would  rob  us  of 
one  of  the  most  precious  truths  which  Christianity 
has  brought  down  from  heaven  to  bless  mankind. 
Nothing  in  the  world  more  easy  than  to  argue  in 
that  manner,  if  it  merit  the  name  of  argument.  It 
requires  only  a  good  deal  of  self-conceit,  a  very  small 
insight  into  the  boundless  magnificence  and  variety 
in  whose  bosom  the  little  atoms  called  men  and  women 
are  floating,  and  the  smallest  possible  fraction  of  rev- 
erence for  the  Almighty  Creator.  It  seems  more 
than  probable,  if  it  admits  any  doubt  at  all,  that 
there  is  not  a  single  law  of  physics,  gravitation,  im- 
pulse, electricity,  magnetism,  which  a  large  portion 
of  mankind  would  not  pronounce  "  impossible,"  were 
they  not  operating  every  day  before  their  eyes.  If 
one  of  them,  —  the  effect  of  lightning,  for  example, 
or  the  decomposition  of  water,  —  was  simply  pre- 
dicted as  a  phenomenon  of  a  future  world,  exhibited 
as  an  object  of  faith ^  not  of  present  actual  observation, 


406  SERMONS. 

there  would,  I  question  not,  be  a  general  outburst  of 
amazement  and  incredulity  ! 

And  this  suggests  some  reflections,  which  are  often 
overlooked,  to  the  serious  detriment  not  only  of  the 
truth  under  discussion,  but  of  many  others,  standing 
in  close  relation  to  the  future  destiny  of  the  race. 
It  is  strangely  assumed,  that  the  final  consummation 
of  all  things,  including  the  resurrection,  judgment, 
and  the  whole  chain  of  events  that  follow,  is  not  the 
development  of  a  system  governed  by  general  laws, 
which  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  other  general 
laws,  but  deviations,  miraculous  interferences  of  the 
Creator,  to  meet  certain  exigencies  which  have  been 
produced  by  the  entrance  of  moral  evil.  Thus  sin 
created  a  necessity  of  dying,  which  previously  had 
not  been  contemplated,  and  the  introduction  of  death 
rendered  a  new  set  of  measures  necessary, —  for  ex- 
ample, the  resurrection, —  to  bring  it  into  line  with  the 
divine  plans.  The  whole  economy  of  things  has  in 
this  way  been  rescinded,  and  succeeded  by  a  scheme 
of  special  agency.  Creation  has  proved  a  blunder 
on  tlie  part  of  the  great  Architect,  which  has  de- 
manded another  creation  to  put  matters  right,  and 
meet,  by  proper  adjustment,  tlie  extraordinary  emer- 
gency which,  though  foreseen,  was  not  provided  for. 

We  regard  this  as  a  crude  and  unsupported 
hypothesis.  There  is  not  the  smallest  ground  for 
imagining  that  the  introduction  of  moral  evil  has 
disturbed  the  general  laws  of  nature  and  humanity  ; 
that  our  chemistry,  astronomy,  physics,  have  suffered 
any  material  change  from  the  events  that  transpired 
in  the  garden  of  Eden  six  thousand  years  ago.     And 


SERMONS.  407 

we  affirm,  by  parity  of  reason,  that  none  has  occurred 
in  the  laws  of  organic  life.  Death  (we  speak  not  of 
it  in  the  awful  scriptural  sense  of  a  moral  event, 
associated  with  all  that  is  fearful  in  a  sense  of  guilt 
and  a  foreboding  of  future  punishment),  but  as  sim- 
ply a  dissolution  of  the  body  into  its  original  ele- 
ments, consisting  of  a  few  gases  and  metallic  parti- 
cles, was  a  necessity  of  human  nature  from  the  start. 
That  body  was  entirely  unfit  to  be  the  permanent 
residence  of  the  spirit,  and  was  destined  to  give  up, 
by  the  same  processes  to  which  the  living  organism 
is  now  subject,  its  constituent  parts  to  the  great 
bosom  from  which  they  were  taken. 

But  the  thought  cannot  stop  here.  It  is  pregnant 
with  another  momentous  conclusion.  The  reunion 
with  another  material  fabric,  adapted  to  an  immortal 
life,  must  also  have  been  provided  for ;  this,  too,  by 
original  activities  implanted  at  the  first  creation. 
What  they  precisely  are,  when  they  begin  to  operate, 
and  how  they  will  develop  themselves  in  the  far 
future,  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  Him  who  "  worketh 
all  things  according  to  the  counsel  of  his  will." 
Even  the  ordinary  agencies,  constantly  at  work  around 
us,  are,  as  already  stated,  known  only  by  their  effects. 
Not  one  could  be  predicted  beforehand.  Historians 
of  science  note,  with  curious  interest,  certain  pre- 
sentiments of  natural  laws  which  floated,  like  the 
half-waking  dreams  in  the  minds  of  men  of  genius, 
long  before  their  actual  discovery.  But  the  really 
curious  part  of  the  matter  is,  that  when  man  dreams 
so  much,  so  very  few  instances  are  recorded  that 
the  human  mind  should  at  all  times  have  so  blun- 


408  SERMONS, 

dered  and  floundered,  like  a  drunken  man,  in  the 
dark,  whenever  it  undertook  to  pronounce  on  the 
truth  of  things,  —  a  priori^  as  it  is  called,  —  and 
without  the  previous  teachings  of  experience.  Man 
is  a  wretched  prophet,  almost  sure  to  err  where  the 
future  is  anything  more  than  a  mere  reflection  of  the 
past.  Who,  to  use  again  the  apostolic  illustration 
already  referred  to,  could  have  announced,  at  the 
first  planting  of  a  seed-corn  in  the  earth,  that,  after 
lying  torpid  for  months  and  even  years,  it  would  rise 
up  with  a  richer  life  than  it  possessed  before  ? 
Doubtless  the  first  manifestation  of  such  a  change 
filled  the  simple  observer  not  only  with  wonder,  but 
awe  and  terror,  as  if  the  epoch  of  miracles  was  re- 
commencing, and  another  creating  day  had  dawned. 
Yet  observation  teaches  us,  that  it  is  the  effect  of 
a  prolific  virtue,  originally  implanted,  when  God 
said,  "  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  herb  yielding  seed 
and  fruit-tree  yielding  fruit  after  his  kind  whose  seed 
is  in  the  earth."  We  now  expect  and  demand  it. 
The  inscrutability  of  the  process,  our  inability  to 
trace  the  secret  workings  of  those  vital  energies  by 
which  the  change  is  effected,  cease  to  startle  us,mereli/ 
because  we  are  accustomed  to  the  fact.  It  is  pre- 
cisely so  with  our  subject.  A  time  will  come  when  a 
comprehensive  survey  of  the  great  whole,  and  the 
potencies  which  govern  it,  will  show  that  the  re- 
union of  soul  and  body  is  not  a  miracle,  nor  divine 
afterthought,  nor  patch  upon  a  rent,  but  belongs  to 
the  legitimate  order  of  nature  ;  not,  indeed,  the  poor 
contracted  nature  of  which  we  have  present  cogni- 
zance,—  a  pailful  out  of  the  Atlantic,  —  but  that 


SERMONS.  409 

which  corresponds  with  the  greatness  and  majesty  of 
the  Being  who  ''  spoke  and  it  was  done ;  who  com- 
manded and  it  stood  fast."  Meanwhile  let  us  ac- 
knowledge that  there  are  "  more  things  in  heaven  and 
earth  than  are  dreamt  of  in  our  philosophy."  Noth- 
ing is  more  modest  than  genuine  science.  It  never 
forgets  that  it  stands  in  the  midst  of  a  triangle,  en- 
compassed by  three  grand  immensities,  —  the  immen- 
sity of  God,  the  immensity  of  the  universe,  and  the 
immensity  of  human  ignorance. 

To  some  there  may  be  a  difficulty  in  adopting  the 
view  of  the  subject  just  taken,  founded  on  the  in- 
stantaneous7iess  ascribed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  the 
resurrection.  It  shall  take  place  "  in  a  moment,  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trumpet;  "  which 
phrases  seem  to  exclude  the  gradual  operation  of  gen- 
eral laws,  and  demand  a  special  act  of  power  identical 
with  that  which  originally  called  into  existence  the 
universe.  But  the  objection  has  no  force.  Every 
day  the  student  of  nature  perceives  stupendous 
effects  from  processes  so  slow  and  gradual  that  they 
are  scarcely,  if  at  all,  observed ;  and  the  result  seems 
to  come  out  not  by  evolution,  but  sudden^  instanta- 
neous projection.  Take  the  well-known  "  century 
plant,"  as  an  example,  which,  after  vegetating  dur- 
ing a  hundred  years  a  rough,  unsightly  shrub,  ex- 
hibiting no  marked  appearance  of  change  or  prog- 
ress, bursts  forth  into  all  its  floral  magnificence  in  a 
single  night.  So  it  may  be  with  the  precious  seed 
whose  development  is  the  theme  of  our  inspired 
apostle.  That  "  moment,"  that  "  twinkling  of  an 
eye,"  that  "  last  trump,"  may  only  express  the  glori- 
as 


410  SERMONS. 

ous  consummation  of  a  series  of  operations  produced 
by  influences  secretly  at  work  during  a  long  series  of 
ages,  and  which  commenced  their  action  when  the 
first  man  was  laid  in  the  first  grave.  We  would  not 
dogmatically  affirm  on  such  a  subject.  All  we  aim 
at  is,  to  invoke  reason,  analogy,  and  the  common  ob- 
servation of  mankind,  against  those  who  would  dog- 
matically deny.  In  opposition  to  them  we  hold,  as 
infinitely  probable,  that  the  seminal  principles  of  our 
corporeal  immortality,  like  those  of  our  spiritual,  are 
already  sown;  that  their  germination  and  complete 
unfolding  into  future  life  is,  at  this  very  moment^  a 
law  of  physics,  though  one  not  yet  scientifically  ex- 
plored, and,  therefore,  not  having  place  in  our  mean 
and  meagre  philosophies. 

Let  me  now  advert  to  a  few  of  the  probabilities  in 
lavor  of  a  reunion  to  the  body  :  for,  though  the  light 
of  nature  cannot  either  discover  or  prove  it,  inde- 
pendently of  a  divine  attestation,  yet,  from  various 
sources,  an  amount  of  presumptive  evidence  may  be 
gathered  that  is  not  without  force  ;  while  the  trains 
of  reflection  opened  up  are  highly  pleasing.  Look 
at  the  admirable  structure  of  the  body.  One  of  the 
most  satisfactory  arguments  from  reason  for  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  the  soul  is  its  lofty  endowments, 
which  render  the  thought  intolerable  that  it  must 
close  its  career  with  this  brief  life.  The  ancient 
pagans  well  understood  and  admirably  improved  this 
topic  in  their  moral  speculations  ;  and  one  is  apt  to 
wonder  that  they  were  not  conducted  by  it  to  some- 
thing like  a  belief  in  the  doctrine  under  present  con- 
sideration. 


SERMONS.  411 

When  we  think  how  fearfully  and  wonderfully  we 
are  made,  —  how  exquisitely  the  material  part  is  or- 
ganized, not  only  for  animal  enjoyment,  but  for  com- 
panionship with  the  immaterial  principle  in  all  its 
spiritual  actings,  —  it  is  extremely  difficult,  on  the 
assumption  that  death  is  a  finality,  to  avoid  exclaim- 
ing with  the  psalmist,  in  one  of  his  melancholy 
moods,  "  Surely,  thou  hast  made  all  men  in  vain." 
Why  such  expense  in  erecting  the  most  beautiful  of 
edifices,  when,  in  a  few  months  or  years  at  furthest, 
it  must  be  torn  down  and  lie  in  the  dust  forever  ? 
Especially  will  this  thought  be  impressive  when  we 
compare  its  duration  with  that  of  numerous  animals, 
and  even  vegetables.  How  many  are  the  beasts  of 
the  field  who  trample  on  the  tombs  of  parents  and 
their  children  !  How  many  generations  has  the  lofty 
oak  seen  prostrated,  before  its  giant  strength  be- 
trayed the  least  symptom  of  decay  !  And  is  it  truly 
the  divine  constitution  that  the  ignoble  and  valueless 
abide,  while  worth  and  beauty  pass  away  ?  Scarcely. 
May  we  not  rather  view  the  taking  down  of  our 
earthly  tabernacle  as  a  prelude  to  its  being  raised 
again,  more  fair,  stately,  and  permanent  ? 

There  are  presumptions  of  another  kind  drawn  from 
analogy.  Glancing  over  the  wide  domain  of  life  that 
surrounds  us  on  all  sides,  like  the  atmosphere  we 
breathe,  we  discover  changes  of  various  kinds  equiva- 
lent to  resurrections.  The  cedar  that  reigns  over  the 
forest  is  but  the  resurrection  of  a  cedar  that  reigned 
before.  The  regular  transformations  and  progres- 
sions from  state  to  state  of  many  animals  encourage 
a  pleasing  hope  that  when  the  sepulchre  closes  upon 


412  SERMONS. 

Tis  its  iron  gates,  our  career  in  the  body  is  not  termi- 
nated. A  few  days  since  that  gilded  butterfly,  which 
spreads  its  colors  to  the  sun,  was  a  crawling  worm, 
which,  after  a  definite  period,  entered  a  coffin  curi- 
ously manufactured  by  itself,  and  there  lay  in  state, 
exhibiting  every  appearance  of  death.  All  of  us  are 
acquainted  with  the  phenomenon  of  animal  torpidity. 
No  sooner  do  the  blasts  of  winter  begin  to  announce 
their  approach  by  cloudy  days,  chilling  nights,  and 
low  meanings  in  the  distance,  than  whole  tribes  of 
animals  retreat  to  their  coverts,  and  undergo  a  species 
of  death,  till  quickened  again  by  the  genial  influences 
of  spring.  We  ourselves  furnish  a  lesson  to  our- 
selves. What  is  sleep  but  a  kind  of  anticipative 
death  ?  What  more  akin  to  the  gloom  of  the  sepul- 
chre than  midnight,  when  all  animated  nature  is 
sunk  in  helpless  inaction  ? 

The  strong  desh^e  for  reunion  is  not  without  its 
force  in  this  connection.  It  deserves  our  notice,  that 
in  all  the  analogies  quoted  the  animal  is  disposed  for 
his  coming  change  by  a  powerful  instinct  or  pre- 
sentiment. He  seems  to  look  forward  to  and  de- 
sire it ;  and  many  of  his  preparatory  arrangements 
are  so  happily  adapted  that  they  excite  our  pro- 
found admiration.  Does  not  the  same  spirit  of 
prophecy,  anticipation,  desire,  hope,  characterize  the 
human  animal  ?  How  we  linger  round  the  cold 
remains  of  a  friend,  till  absolutely  driven  from  it ! 
How  we  care  for  it,  as  for  some  precious  gem  not 
always  to  be  trodden  in  the  dust  1  How  reverently 
we  commit  it  to  the  keeping  of  its  mother  earth  ! 
bidding  it   good-night,  as   if   in  attendance   on  the 


SJEEMONS.  413 

couches  of  royalty !  How  sacred  is  the  spot  where 
he  lies  !  How  often  do  we  retire  there,  not  alone  to 
weep,  hut  to  hold  sweet  communion  with  the  de- 
parted ;  and  say,  "  We  shall  meet  again."  And, 
when  under  the  teachings  of  the  great  Master,  we 
ponder  his  words  :  ''  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the 
life  ;  whoso  believeth  on  me  shall  never  die,"  what 
rapture  pours  its  full  tide  through  the  soul  1  We 
seize  the  blessed  annunciation,  as  Mary  clasped  the 
knees  of  her  risen  Lord,  and  will  not  let  it  go.  All 
our  visions  of  future  happiness  cluster  round  the 
idea,  and  receive  from  it  their  form  and  fashion. 
We  shall  see  the  glories  of  the  celestial  city,  walk  its 
golden  streets,  hear  its  music ;  and  the  arches  of  its 
great  temple  shall  resound  forever  with  our  songs. 
Such  things  may  have  little  weight  to  the  speculative 
understanding  when  viewed  apart  and  in  detail ;  but 
in  a  mass  they  are  to  the  heart  impressive.  They 
are  significant  symbols  inscribed  in  the  book  of  na- 
ture, though  none  but  the  thoughtful  read  and  under- 
stand them.  They  do  not  demonstrate ;  but  are 
pleasant  echoes  from  the  air,  the  forest,  and  the 
depths  of  the  human  spirit,  to  the  voice  of  the 
heavenly  oracle. 

Attend,  now,  to  some  recorded  Scripture  facts, 
which,  proving  that  cases  have  already  occurred,  re- 
move all  strangeness  from  the  idea  of  a  universal 
victory  over  the  grave.  Scarcely  do  you  open  your 
Bibles,  when  you  come  upon  a  fact  of  this  kind, 
startling  by  its  unexpectedness,  and  thrilling  by  the 
beautiful  simplicity  of  the  relation.  As  a  recom- 
pense for  his  fidelity  in  the  midst  of  faithless  con- 

35* 


414  SERMONS. 

temporaries,  Enoch  is  translated  to  heaven,  hoth  soul 
and  body.  "  He  was  not,  for  God  took  him."  This 
was  not,  we  confess,  precisely  a  resurrection ;  but  it 
intimates,  with  great  clearness,  that  the  body  shall 
play  its  part  in  a  future  life.  Proceeding  further,  we 
are  astonished  at  beholding  Elijah  ascending,  in  a 
chariot  of  flame,  to  glory  ;  proclaiming  thus  to  all 
revolving  ages,  not  only  that  there  was  a  way 
opened  for  men  into  the  highest  heavens,  but  that 
their  very  bodies  had  access  to  the  presence  of  God. 
Previously,  however,  we  see  him  recalling  the  de- 
parted spirit  of  the  son  of  the  Sidonian  widow. 
Elisha,  his  successor,  performs  the  same  office  for 
another,  showing  that  he  inherits  his  Master's  spirit 
and  power.  Even  death  does  not  rob  him  of  it ;  for 
no  sooner  does  a  dead  body  touch  his  corpse,  than  it 
revives  and  proclaims  the  praises  of  the  Lord  God  of 
Elijah. 

I  grant  that  the  doubt  is  possible  whether  these 
narratives,  allowing  them  the  fair  measure  of  inspira- 
tion which  an  enlightened  theology  concedes  to  the 
Old  Testament  historical  annals,  will  bear  the  whole 
superstructure  of  inference  that  has  been  erected  on 
them.  But,  I  insist  that,  viewed  in  no  other  light 
than  as  reflections  of  the  religious  ideas  entertained  in 
an  age  of  vision  and  'prophecy^  they  are  fraught  with 
interest.  They  show  that  the  germs  of  a  complete 
Christianity  not  only  existed,  but  were  quickening 
and  warming  into  life,  even  at  that  early  period. 
The  Christian  instinct  was  clearly  at  work  in  the 
hearts  of  the  pious.  It  was  not  waiting  for  a  college 
of  apostles  to  recite  its  creed,  but  recited  it  as  well 


SERMONS.  415 

as  the  best  apostle  of  them  all :  "  I  believe  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  life  everlasting."  Cer- 
tainly, the  idea  of  an  embodied  existence  in  a  future 
state  was  received  by  the  church  in  very  ancient 
times  ;  not,  perhaps,  in  a  dogmatic  form,  but  as  a 
sentiment^  or  holy  intuition.^  of  which  she  could  give 
no  other  account  than  that  it  formed  a  part  of  her 
religious  consciousness. 

But  we  come  now  to  an  example  in  i;egard  to  which 
there  can  be  no  mistake.  Jesus  appears,  —  that  won- 
derful being  who  stands  alone  in  the  world's  history, 
— in  whom  the  infinite  and  finite  were  so  mysteriously 
blended,  that  for  a  moment,  at  the  first  perusal  of 
the  record,  we  stand  amazed,  —  in  perplexity  whether 
to  adore  the  God,  or  embrace,  with  human  tender- 
ness, the  brother,  till  we  resolve  the  problem  by  com- 
bining both  in  one  undivided  act  of  trust,  worship, 
and  fervent  love. 

The  daughter  of  Jairus  having  gone  the  way  of 
all  the  earth,  He  enters  the  place  where  she  lay,  took 
her  hand  and  said,  "  Talitha-cumi,"  and  the  damsel 
arose  and  walked.  In  the  course  of  his  benevolent 
peregrinations,  he  approached  the  city  of  Nain.  A 
bier  meets  him  containing  the  only  son  of  a  widow. 
Moved  with  compassion,  our  great  High  Priest,  who 
is  not  ashamed  to  have  a  fellow-feeling  with  human 
sorrow,  says,  "  Young  man,  arise  ;  and  he  arose." 
Soon  after,  Lazarus  goes  down  to  the  tomb.  Four 
days  elapse,  during  which  he  continues  sleeping  and 
festering  in  his  dark  prison-house.  Jesus  arrives, — 
drops  a  tear,  but  not  over  the  loss  of  his  friend  ;  for 
he  commands :  "  Lazarus,  come  forth  ;  and  straight- 
way he  arose." 


416  SERMONS. 

Of  these  miracles,  we  take  the  most  contracted 
possible  view,  if  we  consider  them  as  designed  merely 
to  give  high  ideas  of  the  Saviour's  power,  that  spec- 
tators might  he  thrown  into  a  stupid  maze,  which 
would  force  them  to  acknowledge  the  divinity  of  his 
mission.  Surely  they  had  a  deeper  meaning.  They 
symbolized  the  nature  of  his  kingdom  ;  the  grand 
order  of  facts  and  actualities  into  which  it  should  be 
developed.  In  a  word,  the  singular  interest  always 
evinced  by  Christ  in  the  human  body  was  designed 
to  familiarize  us  with  the  idea  of  its  future  fortunes  ; 
its  participation  in  the  blessings  he  procured  as  the 
restorer  of  our  fallen  nature.  Without  this  supposi- 
tion, they  are  sportings  of  giant  strength,  destitute  of 
true  dignity  and  elevation ;  because  imparting  no  val- 
uable lesson,  and  only  gratifying  the  vulgar  appetite 
for  what  is  strange. 

Advance  a  step  further  in  his  history.  In  the  ex- 
amples just  cited,  you  see  the  God,  breathing  over 
the  slain,  and,  by  his  divine  prerogative,  restoring 
the  life  he  originally  communicated.  Next,  behold 
the  man  himself,  though  not  for  himself,  tasting 
death's  bitterness.  At  the  dawn  of  the  third  fol- 
lowing day,  earth  proclaims,  by  her  convulsions,  the 
second  birth  of  her  glorious  Lord,  and  he  comes 
forth  to  the  confusion  of  his  enemies  and  the  rapture 
of  desponding  friends.  Henceforth  he  becomes  the 
plague  of  death  and  the  destruction  of  the  grave ;  in 
testimony  of  which  we  are  told  many  came  from 
their  sepulchres,  and  went  into  the  holy  city,  and 
appeared  unto  many.  Thus,  from  what  has  been, 
we  gather  precious  intimations  of  what  shall  be. 


SEEMONS.  417 

corner  of  the  veil  that  conceals  the  world  of  invisi- 
bles has  been  raised,  that  we  may  look  in  and  see  on 
its  highest  throne,  clothed  with  human  flesh,  that 
Mighty  One  who  declared  on  earth  that  when  he  was 
lifted  up  he  would  draw  all  men  unto  him. 

Our  conceptions,  however,  on  this  point,  will  fall 
exceedingly  short  of  the  truth,  if  we  consider  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  as  only  carrying  with  it  the 
force  of  a  great  example.  He  is  not  only  the  first 
fruits  of  the  immortal  harvest,  but,  in  a  sense,  the 
harvest  itself,  —  the  whole  human  nature  he  came  to 
redeem  being  in  him  virtually  and  potentially, 
through  the  mystic  union  which  binds  them  together 
as  the  head  with  its'  body,  the  root  with  its  brandies. 
His  victory  over  the  grave  is,  therefore,  infinitely 
more  than  a  precedent ;  it  is  a  principle  including  the 
triumph  of  all  his  followers.  Bold  and  daring  is  the 
language  of  the  great  apostle  on  this  subject :  in 
many  parts  of  his  writings  going  so  far  as  to  repre- 
sent Christians  as  actually  risen  and  standing  in 
their  ascension  robes  before  the  throne.  "  And  hath 
raised  us  up  and  made  us  sit  together  in  heavenly 
places  in  Christ  Jesus."  "  Buried  with  him  in  bap- 
tism, wherein  ye  are  also  risen  with  him."  "  If  ye  be 
risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are  above." 
See  here  the  power  of  Christian  faith.  Standing  on 
the  heights  of  holy  contemplation,  it  sees  the  blue 
hills  of  Canaan  as  objects  close  upon  the  eye,  and 
already  reached.  With  such  intensity  of  confidence 
in  the  issue  does  it  see  them,  that-it  takes  no  account 
of  the  dark  and  turbid  stream  that  yet  separates 
from  the  happy  shore.     "  Our  life  is  hid  with  Christ 


418  SERMONS. 

in  God ;  and  when  lie  which  is  our  life  shall  appear, 
then  shall  we  also  appear  with  him  in  glory."  It  must 
be  so.  The  head  can  no  more  exist  without  the 
body  than  the  body  without  the  head. 

As  to  the  direct  proofs  of  our  doctrine,  we  waive 
the  discussion  as  needless.  None  but  the  utterly 
blind,  or  victims  of  some  monstrous  delusion,  can 
fail  of  perceiving  them.  The  truth  shines  like  a  sun- 
beam on  every  page,  and  looms  up  from  every  para- 
graph. Nor,  indeed,  is  this  surprising  ;  for  so  closely 
is  it  interwoven  with  the  whole  texture  of  Christian- 
ity, that  the  denial  of  it  subverts  the  very  foundations 
of  our  faith.  "Yea,"  says  the  apostle,  "wc  are 
found  false  witnesses  of  God  ;  because  we  have  testi- 
fied of  God  that  he  raised  up  Christ,  whom  he  raised 
not  up  if  so  be  the  dead  rise  not:  for  if  the  dead 
rise  not,  then  is  not  Christ  raised  ;  and  if  Christ  be 
not  raised,  your  faith  is  vain  ;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins  : 
then  they  also  which  are  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  are 
perished." 

In  improving  the  subject,  let  us  observe  how  much 
the  human  race  is  indebted  to  the  gospel.  Of  all 
systems  of  religion,  it  is  the  only  one  that  has  satisfac- 
torily exhibited  the  doctrine  discussed.  Consult  the 
representatives  of  ancient  wisdom,  and  you  find  that 
great  as  was  the  multitude  of  thoughts  within  them, 
and  infinite  the  variety  of  their  speculations,  the 
dream  of  it  never  entered  their  minds.  By  aid,  in- 
deed, of  a  prolific  imagination,  they  excogitated  a 
sort  of  substitute,  —  fancying  departed  spirits  to  be 
surrounded  by  a  condensed  atmosphere,  which  they 
called  a  shade,  presenting  all  the  lineaments  of  the 


SEEM  ON S  419 

body  while  on  earth.  But  this,  it  is  evident,  was  a 
doctrine  very  different  from  tliat  of  a  resurrection, 
as  well  as  a  thousand  times  more  visionary.  In  con- 
sequence of  ignorance  here,  the  best  of  them  enjoyed 
small  comfort  from  their  views  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  There  is  something  very  endearing  in  the 
connection  which  exists  between  the  body  and  the 
spirit.  So  admirably  are  they  adjusted  to  each  other, 
—  like  the  strings  of  a  musical  instrument,  —  so  won- 
derfully sympathize  with  each  other's  movements, 
that  the  idea  of  disruption  produces  the  same  kind 
of  shock  we  feel  at  hearing  of  a  rupture  between  two 
intimate,  loiig-endcarcd  friends.  They  are  twins, — 
born  together,  living  together,  —  always  rejoicing  in 
each  other's  presence.  And  must  all  this  end  ?  Have 
we  been  united  by  such  tender  bonds  only  to  experi- 
ence the  pangs  of  eternal  separation  ?  Almost  could 
I  wish  that  the  stroke  which  laid  low  my  friend,  had 
also  fallen  on  me,  that  I  might  accompany  him  to 
the  land  of  forgetfulness.  Something  like  this,  me- 
thinks,  would  be  the  expostulation  of  the  soul.  The 
vague  notion  of  a  pure,  spiritual  immortality  —  a  con- 
tinued existence  of  the  principle  of  thought,  divorced 
from  connection  with  matter  —  is  not  calculated  to 
satisfy  the  needs  of  the  heart.  A  blank  is  felt  in  the 
belief  which  gives  a  cold  and  dreary  aspect  to  the 
whole,  and  which  nothing  can  fill  up  but  the  doo^ 
trine  of  re-union  to  the  body,  —  the  doctrine  of  a 
whole,  unmutilated  humanity. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true,  that  we  may  conceive  of 
the  soul  as  a  pure,  spiritual  essence,  acting  independ- 
ently of  any  corporeal  vehicle.     Such,  we  are  con- 


420  SERMONS. 

strained  to  imagine,  will  be  the  case  during  the 
interval  between  death  and  the  resurrection.  But  it 
is  equally  true  that  in  this  provisional  state  of  being 
her  powers  will  be  extremely  limited,  and  shut  out 
entirely  from  the  field  of  external  nature.  Our  organs 
of  sense  are  the  sole  medium  through  which  we  ob- 
tain an  acquaintance  with  this  department  of  knowl- 
edge. It  has  no  existence  to  us,  but  in  certain  visible 
and  tangible  qualities,  which,  it  is  unreasonable  to 
suppose,  God  will  impart  by  new  and  miraculous  ex- 
pedients. The  disembodied  spirit  must,  therefore, 
stand  completely  isolated  from  matter ;  capable,  in- 
deed, of  a  transcendental  happiness  in  the  contem- 
plation of  other  ideas,  but  excluded,  necessarily, 
from  the  fair  garden  of  this  outer  world,  the  hills 
and  dales,  the  rivers,  trees,  and  plains,  the  sun  and 
starry  skies,  among  which  she  now  expatiates  with, 
alas,  too  fond  delight.  Perhaps,  the  reason  of  her 
temporary  unclothing  is,  that  she  may  smooth  her 
ruffled  pinions,  and  recover  from  that  earthly  taint 
she  has  contracted  by  exclusive  devotion  here  to 
things  seen  and  temporal.  However  this  is,  it  seems 
absolutely  necessary  that  she  be  joined  by  her  old 
companion  to  re-establish  her  relations  with  the  fair 
variety  of  things  around  her,  and  become  a  successful 
student  of  the  magnificent  mechanism  of  the  uni- 
verse. Immortality  is  without  it  little  better  than  a 
jejune  abstraction,  unfit  to  grapple  with  the  coarse 
realities  of  life,  and  ever  ready  to  slide  out  of  the 
mind  altogether.  The  phantom,  to  become  really  im- 
pressive, must  be  clothed  in  flesh  and  blood ;  the 
idea,  to  retain  its  hold,  must  be  solidified  by  union 


SEE  31  ON  S.  421 

with  the  material  subject  which  may  impart  a  portion 
of  its  own  fixedness. 

But  to  estimate  the  value  of  our  doctrine,  we  must 
regard  it  in  another  connection.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  powerful  elements  of  that  c/reat  moral  force 
that  Christianity  brought  to  bear  against  the  vile 
sensuality  in  wliich  mankind  was  sunk,  at  the  period 
of  our  Saviour's  advent,  apparently  beyond  the  possi- 
bility of  recovery.  Look  at  the  great  apostle,  ad- 
dressing, on  this  subject,  the  most  voluptuous  and 
corrupted  city  on  tlie  face  of  the  earth  !  ''  Flee 
fornication,"  is  the  text  of  his  discourse.  Your 
bodies  are  sacred  to  the  Lord ;  they  are  members  of 
that  blessed  Redeemer  who  died  for  you  ;  they  are 
the  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  they  shall  be  raised 
up  at  the  last  day.  Will  you  dare  prostitute  them  to 
offices  which  would  degrade  a  brute,  and  cut  your- 
selves off  from  the  blessedness  of  the  children  of 
God  ?  I  ask  you,  was  not  pleading  of  this  kind 
more  potent  a  thousand  times  to  gain  its  end,  than 
all  the  elegant  speculations  that  dropped  from  the 
honeyed  lips  of  Plato  ?  There  was  nothing  in  it  wire- 
drawn or  obscure.  It  supplied  to  the  poor  Gentile  a 
distinct,  tangible  reason  wh^  he  should  abstain  from 
pollution  ;  for  it  told  him  that  his  body  was  an  hon- 
orable part  of  him,  which  he  was  bound  to  reverence, 
because  G-od  honored  it.  In  the  days  of  his  igno- 
rance nothing  better  could  be  expected  than  that  he 
should  treat  it  as  a  mere  instrument  of  lust.  It  was 
good  for  nothing  else.  In  a  short  time  it  must  die, 
rot,  and  perish  forever  :  why,  then,  we  may  suppose 


422  SEEMONS. 

him  sajing,  should  I  treat  the  miserable  thing  with 
any  ceremony  ?  Why  not  kick  and  cuff  it  like  a 
dog,  if  I  can  obtain  any  gratification  in  this  way  ? 
—  the  miserable  cur  will  never  appear  hereafter  to 
complain  of  its  treatment :  "  Let  me  eat  and  drink, 
for  to-morrow  I  die." 

But  how  differently  does  he  now  view  the  subject 
in  the  light  of  Christian  truth !  What  a  change  is 
wrought  in  his  estimate  of  that  carcass  he  thought 
so  vile !  All  its  meanness  is  gone  ;  a  halo  of  glory 
rests  on  its  head  ;  its  cheek  is  flushed  with  an  im- 
mortal hope  ;  its  sparkling  eyes  look  upward  to  the 
heavens  ;  a  divine  vigor  pervades  every  limb.  It  has 
become  a  worthy  companion  of  the  never-dying  spirit 
and  of  angels  who  see  the  face  of  God.  Ask  him 
now  whether  he  will  not  cherish  and  respect  it; 
whether  watching  over  its  purity,  that  he  may  pre- 
sent it,  at  last,  as  a  chaste  virgin  unto  Christ,  be  not 
worth  his  most  strenuous  exertions.  In  this  way, 
our  holy  religion,  by  plans  and  methods  of  its  own, 
heals  the  diseases  of  the  mind  ;  proving  that  the 
foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than  men,  and  the  weak- 
ness of  God  stronger  than  men. 

Again,  we  here  see  the  moral  idea  of  a  Christian 
funeral.  You  are  aware  that,  before  the  coming  of 
Christ,  the  general  practice  of  the  heathen  was  to 
hum  their  dead  ;  and  that  the  change  to  burying 
took  place  as  soon  as  a  man  with  his  family  became 
Christian.  The  converts  to  the  gospel  considered 
the  body  in  the  light  of  seed  sown  in  the  ground, 
which  should  certainly  spring  up  at  the  appointed 


SEE3I0NS.  423 

time.  Hence,  tliey  recoiled  with  horror  from  the 
custom  of  consuming  with  fire  (so  expressive  of  con- 
tempt and  suggestive  of  annihilation),  and  consigned 
it  to  the  earth,  as  precious  grain :  thus  signifying 
their  esteem  for  it,  and  their  confident  belief  that  it 
should  rise  again.  Accordingly  they  called  the  re- 
positories of  their  dead,  cemeteries  or  sleeping-places. 
We  have  adopted  and  use  the  vrord,  without  always 
calling  up  its  beautiful  import. 

Let  these  reflections  attend  you  while  you  pay  the 
last  solemn  offices  to  departed  Christian  friends. 
Parent,  from  whom  has  been  torn  the  tender  bud 
tliat  was  just  commencing  to  put  forth  its  blossoms  ; 
child,  who  hast  lost  the  pious  guide  of  thy  youth ; 
w^idow,  bereaved  of  that  loving  companion  with 
whom  thou  didst  so  often  take  sweet  counsel,  and 
walk  to  the  house  of  God  in  company ;  —  why  weep- 
est  thou  ?  That  beloved  one  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth. 
He  is  safe  ;  infinitely  safer  than  if  reposing  in  your 
arms.  He  has  gone  down  to  the  tomb  to  undergo  a 
purifying  process ;  and  the  result  will  be,  in  due 
time,  his  corruption  putting  on  incorruption  ;  his 
mortal  immortality  ! 

Finally,  let  us  reflect  that  though  our  doctrine  be 
good  tidings,  it  is  only  such  to  the  penitent  and  be- 
lieving. To  you  who  make  no  claim  to  this  charac- 
ter, it  is  not  a  message  of  love  and  joy,  but  of  blank 
despair.  True,  you  shall  be  raised  ;  you  shall  hear, 
with  others,  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  the 
trump  of  God ;  but  on  that  awful  day  when  you 
stand  before  the  judgment-seat,  see  the  books  opened 


424  SERMONS. 

and  hear  a  sentence  that  will  extinguish  every  spark 
of  hope,  you  will  realize  the  solemn  truth  I  now  pro- 
claim in  the  ears  of  all :  "  As  there  is  a  resurrec- 
tion unto  life,  so  there  is  a  resurrection  unto  dam- 
nation." 


x/ 


